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Depression and anxiety are associated with decline in executive function over two years in adults 50 and over
Author(s) -
Getaneh Mekdes Mulusew,
Ballard Clive,
Brooker Helen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.036342
Subject(s) - anxiety , cognition , depression (economics) , cognitive decline , clinical psychology , psychology , multivariate analysis of variance , psychiatry , medicine , dementia , disease , economics , machine learning , computer science , macroeconomics
Background Depression and anxiety are known to be associated with a range of physical and mental health issues, including disruptions to cognitive function. This is a particularly pertinent issue in older adults where factors which increase the risk of cognitive impairment may increase the rate of cognitive decline. However, anxiety as a potential accelerator of cognitive decline has never been investigated. The Platform for Research Online to investigate Genetics and Cognition in Ageing (PROTECT) is a study being conducted in adults aged 50 and older, to identify factors which can influence cognitive aging. This particular study was done to establish the relationship between depression and anxiety and core aspects of cognitive function. We hypothesized to see an association between both depression and anxiety with accelerated cognitive decline. Method The volunteers were invited at study entry to perform online cognitive tests from the CogTrack TM System and the PROTECT cognitive test system. The 6 tasks from the two test systems assessed attention, information processing, reasoning, working and episodic memory over two year follow up period. The PHQ‐9 depression severity groupings analyzed were: greater than 10 was taken to indicate clinically significant depression and GAD 7 scoring of greater than 10 was taken to indicate clinically significant anxiety. We used General Linear Model (Repeated Measures) to evaluate any differences in cognitive decline between people with or without depression and anxiety respectively. For statistical analysis, Wilk’s Lambda MANOVA was used. Covariates were Age, gender, and education level. Result This study has identified highly significant and clinically relevant association between both depression and anxiety and decline in grammatical reasoning. Conclusion The result is a key finding in that executive function is what relates mostly with daily activities and that provides key insights in the types of intervention we need to maintain cognitive function in people with mood disorders. An important limitation, which will be examined as part of the final analysis, is the impact of anti‐depressants on cognitive outcome since some anti‐depressants accelerate decline in some patients, or if the mood disorder is being treated, the therapy might help slow down the cognitive decline as well.