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Personality and risk of Alzheimer's disease: New data and meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Terracciano Antonio,
Sutin Angelina R.,
An Yang,
O'Brien Richard J.,
Ferrucci Luigi,
Zonderman Alan B.,
Resnick Susan M.
Publication year - 2014
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 - 10.1016/j.jalz.2013.03.002
Subject(s) - conscientiousness , neuroticism , meta analysis , hazard ratio , agreeableness , big five personality traits , quartile , psychology , personality , confidence interval , clinical psychology , depression (economics) , demography , medicine , extraversion and introversion , social psychology , macroeconomics , sociology , economics
Background We examine whether broad factors and specific facets of personality are associated with increased risk of incident Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a long‐run longitudinal study and a meta‐analysis of published studies. Methods Participants (n = 1671) were monitored for up to 22 years from a baseline personality assessment. The meta‐analysis pooled results from up to five prospective studies (n = 5054). Results Individuals with scores in the top quartile of neuroticism (hazard ratio = 3.1; 95% confidence interval = 1.6–6.0) or the lowest quartile of conscientiousness (hazard ratio = 3.3; 95% confidence interval = 1.4–7.4) had a threefold increased risk of incident AD. Among the components of these traits, self‐discipline and depression had the strongest associations with incident AD. The meta‐analysis confirmed the associations of neuroticism ( P = 2 × 10 −9 ) and conscientiousness ( P = 2 × 10 −6 ), along with weaker effects for openness and agreeableness ( P < .05). Conclusions The current study and meta‐analysis indicate that personality traits are associated with increased risk of AD, with effect sizes similar to those of well‐established clinical and lifestyle risk factors.