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O2‐05‐01: Heterogeneity in 14‐Year Dementia Incidence Between Asian American Subgroups
Author(s) -
Mayeda Elizabeth Rose,
Glymour M Maria,
Quesenberry Charles P.,
Whitmer Rachel A.
Publication year - 2016
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.2016.06.417
Subject(s) - dementia , medicine , incidence (geometry) , demography , vascular dementia , gerontology , population , depression (economics) , diabetes mellitus , disease , physics , environmental health , sociology , optics , economics , macroeconomics , endocrinology
including higher education, more lifetime cognitive activity, and exercise. Little is known about whether and how an individual’s personality relates to the risk of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this study, we examined whether extraversion and neuroticism are related to the level of beta-amyloid (Ab) deposition, a pathological hallmark of AD, in cognitively normal elderly.Methods: Using F-Florbetaben positron emission tomography (PET), we assessed a level of Ab deposition of 57 cognitively normal elderly (29 Female, mean age 1⁄4 65.4, SD 1⁄4 3.5), who also completed comprehensive neuropsychological tests. Extraversion and neuroticism scores were based on a subset of the Big-Five personality inventory (Goldberg, 1992). Amyloid deposition was determined using standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) using a gray matter cerebellum reference region. Results: Extraversion (mean 1⁄4 3.4, SD 1⁄4 0.7, range: 1.84.5) was negatively associated with higher Ab deposition in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), accounting for age, sex, and years of education (b 1⁄4 -0.37, p < 0.05) (Figure 1). The whole-brain voxel-wise analysis showed a negative association between extraversion and Ab deposition across frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices (Figure 2). With cognitive composite scores assessing 4 cognitive domains (i.e., reasoning, vocabulary, processing speed, and memory), a trend of positive association between extraversion and memory performance was found, accounting for age, sex, and years of education (b1⁄4 0.28, p1⁄4 0.08). Neuroticism, however, was not associated with either Ab deposition or cognitive performance. Conclusions: This preliminary study suggests that extraversion, possibly through lifestyle factors, correlates with Ab deposition and memory functions in cognitively normal elderly. Future studies need to address a causal relationship between personality and the vulnerability to AD-related pathology.