Apathy, anhedonia, and psychomotor retardation in elderly psychiatric patients and healthy elderly individuals.

Normal aging of the brain affects the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits. These circuits are implicated in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Normal aging may therefore influence the symptomatology of psychiatric disorders in the elderly. We investigated motivational behavior that is associated with the function of these circuits, such as apathy, anhedonia, and psychomotor retardation in healthy elderly subjects and psychiatric inpatients (age > or = 60 yr). Apathy, anhedonia, and psychomotor retardation were assessed with the Apathy Evaluation Scale, the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale, and the Widlöcher Retardation Rating Scale. Other measurements included the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and the assessment of vascular risk factors. We found some evidence for age-related changes in motivational behavior. In the healthy elderly group (n = 64), increasing age was associated with anhedonia, and in the patient group (n = 62), increasing age was associated with psychomotor retardation. Motivational disturbances could be the effect of an interaction between brain aging and the neuropathology of psychiatric disorders in the elderly.