A young carer holds the hands of an elderly woman in a residential home for the elderly in Planegg near Munich in this June 19, 2007 file photo.Michaela Rehle/Files

(Reuters Health) – Different types of problems are most likely to afflict people at different times of life, so common risk factors for depression change over the years, too, Dutch researchers say.

But when a risk factor is uncommon among peers – like widowhood or poor health in youth – it can have an outsized effect on depression risk, the study team reports in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

“A wide range of risk factors for depression is relevant across the entire life span,” said lead author Roxanne Schaakxs of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

“However, some risk factors expected to be strongly related to depression in certain ages, may actually affect other age groups to…