Association between depressive status and mild cognitive impairment in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults from CHARLS study.

Background: The potential association between depressive status and the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) remains unclear, especially in the absence of prospective evidence. This study aims to elucidate the impact of either depression score or depression on the risk of MCI using longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).

Methods: This prospective study included 5,766 participants from CHARLS followed from 2011 to 2015.