LAUSR

Background It remains unclear whether cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are associated with depression in the general elderly population. We thus performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between depression and CMBs. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted in EBSCO, PubMed, and Web of Science for relevant studies that assessed the relationship between depression and the prevalence of CMBs. Results Five eligible studies including 7,328 patients were pooled in meta-analysis. The prevalence of CMBs was 18.0%. The prevalence of depression was 11.1%. The pooled analysis demonstrated odds ratio for CMBs and depression to be 1.187 (95% confidence interval 1.005–1.403; p = 0.043) with no evidence of statistical heterogeneity (I2 = 0.0%, p = 0.621). Conclusion Our meta-analysis of available published data indicated an increased prevalence of depression in the subjects with pre-existing CMBs. This finding supports the vascular depression hypothesis. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of CMBs in the pathogenesis and progression of depression, which might provide a potential target for the prevention and treatment.