Mental Health & Aging Program Importance

Researching the causes and consequences 

The Mental Health & Aging Research Center conducts research on the causes and consequences of the  most common causes of psychological distress experienced by older adults, including depression, anxiety, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

The importance of mental health problems in older adults cannot be underestimated. Depression is the leading cause of disability in developed nations, according to findings from the "Global Burden of Disease" study conducted by the World Health Organization, World Bank and Harvard University. Cognitive impairment, and the dementing diseases that contribute to its occurrence among older adults, is a major public health problem that will grow in importance as the world population ages in the coming decades.

Cognitive impairment is associated with an increase in services utilization, risk of institutionalization and hospitalization, functional dependency, and mortality.