WORRY, JEALOUSY , MOODINESS LINKED TO HIGHER RISK OF ALZHEIMER'S IN WOMEN
Women who are anxious, jealous, or moody and distressed in middle age
may be at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life,
according to a nearly 40-year-long study published in the October 1, 2014,
online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy
of Neurology.
"Most
Alzheimer's research has been devoted to factors such as education, heart and
blood risk factors, head trauma, family history and genetics," said study
author Lena Johannsson, PhD, of the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg,
Sweden. "Personality may influence the individual's risk for dementia
through its effect on behavior, lifestyle or reactions to stress."
For
the study, 800 women with an average age of 46 were followed for 38 years and
given personality tests that looked at their level of neuroticism and
extraversion or introversion, along with memory tests. Of those, 19 percent
developed dementia.
Neuroticism
involves being easily distressed and personality traits such as worrying,
jealousy or moodiness. People who are neurotic are more likely to express
anger, guilt, envy, anxiety or depression. Introversion is described as shyness
and reserve and extraversion is associated with being outgoing.
The
women were also asked if they had experienced any period of stress that lasted
one month or longer in their work, health, or family situation. Stress referred
to feelings of irritability, tension, nervousness, fear, anxiety or sleep
disturbances. Responses were categorized as zero to five, with zero
representing never experiencing any period of stress, to five, experiencing
constant stress during the last five years. Women who chose responses from 3
and 5 were considered to have distress.
The
study found that women who scored highest on the tests for neuroticism had
double the risk of developing dementia compared to those who scored lowest on
the tests. However, the link depended on long-standing stress.
Being
either withdrawn or outgoing did not appear to raise dementia risk alone,
however, women who were both easily distressed and withdrawn had the highest
risk of Alzheimer's disease in the study. A total of 16 of the 63 women, or 25
percent, who were easily distressed and withdrawn developed Alzheimer's
disease, compared to eight out of the 64 people, or 13 percent, of those who
were not easily distressed and were outgoing.
The
study was supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council, the Swedish
Council for Working Life and Social Research, the Swedish Research Council for
Health, Working Life and Welfare, the Alzheimer's Association, the Bank of
Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, Swedish Brain Power, Söderström -- Königska
Nursing Home Foundation, Gamla Tjänarinnor Foundation, Shopkeeper Hjalmar
Svensson's Research Foundation, Professor Bror Gadelius Memorial Foundation the
Dementia Foundation, Fredrik and Ingrid Thurings Foundation and the University
of Gothenburg.
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