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Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Memory Problems More Likely for People Most Easily
Distressed
Earlier study found it may also lead to Alzheimer’s
disease
 June 14, 2007 - People who are easily distressed
and have more negative emotions are more likely to develop memory
problems than more easygoing people, according to a study by researchers
at Rush University Medical Center published in the June 12 issue of
Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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In the study, those who most often experience
negative emotions such as depression and anxiety were 40 percent more
likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who were least
prone to negative emotions.
Mild cognitive impairment is a transitional stage
between normal aging and dementia. People with mild cognitive impairment
have mild memory or cognitive problems, but have no significant
disability.
Researchers analyzed the results from two larger
studies of 1,256 people with no cognitive impairment. During up to 12
years of follow-up, 482 people developed mild cognitive impairment.
Participants were evaluated on their level of
proneness to distress and negative emotions by rating their level of
agreement with statements such as “I am not a worrier,” “I often feel
tense and jittery,” and “I often get angry at the way people treat me.”
“People differ in how they tend to experience and
deal with negative emotions and psychological distress, and the way
people respond tends to stay the same throughout their adult lives,”
said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, neuropsychologist, Rush
Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
“These findings suggest that, over a lifetime,
chronic experience of stress affects the area of the brain that governs
stress response. Unfortunately, that part of the brain also regulates
memory.”
An earlier study by Wilson and his colleagues
showed that people who are easily distressed are more likely to develop
Alzheimer’s disease than more easygoing people.
Wilson said several factors lead researchers to
believe that proneness to stress is a risk factor for memory problems
and not an early sign of disease. For example, while the level of
distress does not appear to increase in old age, the changes in the
brain related to memory problems and Alzheimer’s disease do increase
with age.
The study was supported by grants from the National
Institute on Aging and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center is one of 29
NIA-supported Alzheimer's Disease Centers across the U.S. which conduct
basic science, clinical, and social and behavioral research on dementia
and AD. General information on aging and aging research can be viewed at
the NIA's home website,
www.nia.nih.gov. For more information on the Rush Alzheimer’s
Disease Center, visit
www.rush.edu.
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