OBJECTIVE Despite decades of research, neuropsychological tests (NPTs) that clearly differentiate between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and late-life depression (LLD) have yet to be agreed upon. Given this gap in knowledge and the rapid deployment of disease-modifying drugs for the two disorders, accurate clinical diagnosis using evidence-based assessment is essential. This study aims to systematically examine the literature to identify NPTs that would be able to differentiate AD and LLD. METHOD Databases and bibliographies were searched to identify articles for analysis. Two major inclusion criteria were that the studies compared neuropsychological functioning of AD versus LLD using normed NPTs and provided data for effect size calculation. Risk of bias was minimized by having independent coders for all steps in the review. RESULTS Forty-one studies met inclusion criteria (N = 2,797) and provided effect sizes for tests that were classified as belonging to 15 domains of functioning. The two groups were well differentiated by tasks of delayed contextual verbal memory as compared to immediate or non-contextual memory, recognition cueing, confrontation naming, visuospatial construction, and conceptualization. Specific NPTs that appear to be useful for differential diagnosis include the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test-Delayed Recognition; Boston Naming Test; the Dementia Rating Scale's memory, conceptualization, and construction subscales; and the CERAD Constructional Praxis. CONCLUSIONS The NPTs highlighted in this systematic review could be used as a relatively simple and cost-effective method to differentiate between patients with cognitive dysfunction due to AD versus LLD.

中文翻译：

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阿尔茨海默病与晚年抑郁症的神经心理学表现：系统回顾和荟萃分析。

目的 尽管经过数十年的研究，明确区分阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 和晚年抑郁症 (LLD) 的神经心理学测试 (NPT) 尚未达成一致。鉴于知识上的差距以及针对这两种疾病的疾病缓解药物的快速部署，使用循证评估进行准确的临床诊断至关重要。本研究旨在系统地审查文献，以确定能够区分 AD 和 LLD 的 NPT。方法 搜索数据库和参考书目以识别用于分析的文章。两个主要纳入标准是，研究使用标准化 NPT 比较 AD 与 LLD 的神经心理功能，并提供效应大小计算的数据。通过在审查的所有步骤中配备独立的编码员，可以最大限度地降低偏见风险。结果 41 项研究符合纳入标准 (N = 2,797)，并提供了被分类为属于 15 个功能领域的测试的效应量。与即时或非语境记忆相比，两组在延迟语境言语记忆、识别线索、对抗命名、视觉空间构建和概念化任务方面有很大区别。似乎对鉴别诊断有用的具体 NPT 包括 Rey 听觉言语学习测试延迟识别；波士顿命名测试；痴呆症评定量表的记忆、概念化和构建分量表；和 CERAD 建设实践。结论 本系统评价中强调的 NPT 可以作为一种相对简单且具有成本效益的方法来区分 AD 和 LLD 引起的认知功能障碍患者。