The authors compared the 2-year survival rates of patients with 1) mixed clinical presentations (n=58), 2) major depression without cognitive impairment (n = 51), and 3) primary degenerative dementia without depression (n = 34). Two-year survival rates were 100% in healthy controls, 91% in patients with major depression, and 76.1% and 78.3%, respectively, in patients with primary degenerative dementia and mixed symptoms. Patients with cognitive impairment (either primary degenerative dementia or mixed symptoms) were 2.55 times more likely to die within the 2-year follow-up than patients with major depression. These data are consistent with previous observations that survival rates of elderly patients with organic mental syndromes are lower than those of elderly patients with "functional" or "psychogenic" disorders.