• Posted May 11, 2026

Sharper Brains May Face Higher Depression Relapse Risk, Study Finds

The relationship between depression and age-related brain decline might depend on a person’s history with the mood disorder, a new study says.

Researchers had thought that people experiencing “brain fog” from aging might be more apt to relapse into depression.

But they found the opposite was true – people with sharper brains were more likely to fall back into depression, according to findings published May 6 in the journal BMJ Mental Health.

“People often think of memory problems as simply a consequence of depression, but our findings suggest the relationship is more complex,” senior researcher Dr. Anya Topiwala, a consultant psychiatrist at the University of Oxford in the U.K., said in a news release.

“Among people with a history of depression, those with better cognitive performance were actually more likely to experience future depressive symptoms,” Topiwala said.

On the other hand, people who’d never had depression were more likely to have their first bout if their cognitive scores were lower, researchers found.

Declines in memory, attention and other brain functions affect as many as 90% of people with major depression, and 40% of people with depression have persistent brain impairment, researchers said in background notes.

For the study, researchers tracked nearly 1,900 U.K. residents with a history of depression, matching them to an equal number of people who’d never had depression. All the participants underwent cognitive tests and MRI scans to check their brain health.

Overall, people who’d previously had depression had almost three times higher risk of suffering a relapse than those having their first bout of depression – 33% versus 13% during years of follow-up.

Results showed that depression patients who performed worst on cognitive tests were less likely to relapse compared to those with the best brain function.

This was contrary to what was seen in people without a history of depression, where worse performance on brain tests was linked to a higher risk of depression. Low cognitive scores increased their risk of a first bout of depression by 40%, researchers found.

“We expected poorer cognitive performance to be associated with a higher risk of future depression in both participants with a history of depression and matched controls; however, the results were more nuanced than expected,” lead researcher Angharad de Cates, a clinical lecturer at the University of Birmingham, said in a news release.

"Among people with previous depression, those with higher cognitive scores were more likely to experience a further depressive episode than those with lower scores — the opposite pattern to that observed in controls,” she said.

This might be because those with impaired brain function might not be able to understand what’s happening to them, de Cates said.

“One possible explanation is that better cognitive functioning may be needed to recognize symptoms and seek help, highlighting the importance of optimizing cognition in those with previous depression to support early intervention,” she said.

More information

The Alzheimer’s Association has more on depression and cognitive decline.

SOURCES: University of Birmingham, news release, May 6, 2026; BMJ Mental Health, May 6, 2026