The Effect of Psychological Distress and Personality Traits on Cognitive Performances and the Risk of Dementia in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment
Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Maastricht University Medical Center, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Alzheimer Center Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands | [b] Department of Neurology, Alzheimer Center VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Inez H.G.B. Ramakers, PhD, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Alzheimer Centre Limburg, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 43 3881025; Fax: +31 43 3875444; i.ramakers@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
Abstract:
Background: The relation between psychological distress, personality traits, and cognitive decline in cognitively impaired patients remains unclear.
Objective: To investigate the effect of psychological distress and personality traits on cognitive functioning in subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI); and to investigate the predictive accuracy of these factors for the development of dementia.
Methods: MCI patients (n = 343, age: 60.9±9.9 years, 38% female, and MMSE score: 28.1±1.9) were included from the Maastricht memory clinic. All patients underwent a standardized neuropsychological assessment (including tests for measuring mental speed (Trail Making Test (TMT) part A and Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT) part I), executive functioning (TMT part B and SCWT part III), memory (15-Word Learning Tests), and verbal fluency (1-minute animals)), CT or MRI, and blood assessment. The Dutch Personality Questionnaire (DPQ) and the 90-items Symptom Check List (SCL-90) were used to measure personality traits and psychological distress. Conversion to dementia was assessed two, five, and ten years after baseline. The mean follow-up period was 6.7±3.4 years.
Results: The Psychoneuroticism score of the SCL-90 was associated with slower performances on SCWT part I and TMT part A. The subdomain Neuroticism of the DPQ was also associated with slower scores on the TMT part A. At follow-up, 85 (25.9%) subjects had developed dementia. The SCL-90 total score, and the subscales, Anxiety, Somatization, Insufficiency in thought and action, and Sleeping problems were associated with a decreased risk for developing (AD-type) dementia.
Conclusion: Psychological distress negatively affected information processing speed, but was not associated with an increased risk of developing dementia in patients with MCI.
