These findings suggest that character influences dementia management rather than being directly linked to brain tissue damage.Individuals with character traits such as conscientiousness, extraversion, and positive affect are less likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those with neuroticism and negative affect, according to a brand-new analysis by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Northwestern University. If those links hold up, then targeting character qualities for modification in interventions earlier in life could be a way to minimize dementia risk in the long term, she said.Beck and associates evaluated information from eight published studies including over 44,000 people, of whom 1,703 developed dementia. They looked at procedures of the “big 5″ character qualities(conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience, neuroticism, and agreeableness) and subjective well-being (positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction) compared to medical signs of dementia (efficiency on cognitive tests) and brain pathology at autopsy.Personality is normally believed to be linked to dementia danger through behavior, Beck said.
A thorough research study reveals that character traits like conscientiousness and extraversion may minimize dementia danger, while neuroticism increases it. These findings recommend that personality influences dementia management rather than being directly linked to brain tissue damage.Individuals with personality type such as conscientiousness, extraversion, and favorable affect are less likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those with neuroticism and unfavorable affect, according to a brand-new analysis by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Northwestern University. The distinction was not linked to physical damage to brain tissue found in dementia patients, but more most likely to how specific characteristic assist people browse dementia-related impairments.The work was just recently published in Alzheimers && Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimers Association.Previous studies have attempted to develop links in between characteristic and dementia, however these were primarily small and represented only particular populations, said Emorie Beck, assistant teacher of psychology at UC Davis and first author on the paper.”We wanted to utilize brand-new technology to manufacture these research studies and test the strength and consistency of these associations,” Beck stated. If those links hold up, then targeting characteristic for change in interventions previously in life might be a method to minimize dementia risk in the long term, she said.Beck and associates evaluated information from 8 released studies consisting of over 44,000 people, of whom 1,703 developed dementia. They took a look at procedures of the “huge 5″ characteristic(conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience, neuroticism, and agreeableness) and subjective well-being (positive and unfavorable affect, and life fulfillment) compared to scientific signs of dementia (performance on cognitive tests) and brain pathology at autopsy.Personality is usually believed to be linked to dementia risk through habits, Beck said. For example, individuals who score high up on conscientiousness may be more likely to consume well and take care of their health, which leads to better health in the long term.The scientists found that high ratings on negative characteristics (neuroticism, negative affect) and low scores on favorable characteristics (conscientiousness, extraversion, positive affect) were connected with a higher threat of a dementia diagnosis. High ratings on openness to experience, agreeableness, and life complete satisfaction had a protective result in a smaller sized subset of studies.Link to diagnosis however not pathologyTo their surprise, however, no link was discovered in between these personality type and actual neuropathology in the brains of people after death.”This was the most unexpected finding to us,” Beck said. “If personality is predictive of performance on cognitive tests but not pathology, what might be occurring?”One explanation is that some character characteristics could make people more resilient to the damage caused by illness such as Alzheimers. People with greater levels of some traits might find ways, whether they are conscious of it or not, to cope with and work around impairments. Other work by members of the study team has actually shown that some individuals with quite extensive pathology can show little impairment on cognitive tests.The researchers also looked at other aspects that could moderate the relationship in between personality and dementia risk and neuropathology, including age, gender, and instructional achievement.”We found nearly no proof for results, except that conscientiousnesss protective impact increased with age,” Beck said.Many elements contribute to the development of dementia. Amongst those that arent directly associated to genes, this study is a first action in teasing out the associations between character and dementia, Beck said. The scientists plan to continue and broaden the work, consisting of taking a look at people who show little problems in the face of a great deal of pathology. They also hope to take a look at other daily elements that may contribute in developing dementia.Reference: “Personality predictors of dementia medical diagnosis and neuropathological burden: A specific participant data meta-analysis” by Emorie D. Beck, Tomiko Yoneda, Bryan D. James, David A. Bennett, Jason Hassenstab, Mindy J. Katz, Richard B. Lipton, John Morris, Daniel K. Mroczek and Eileen K. Graham, 29 November 2023, Alzheimers & & Dementia.DOI: 10.1002/ alz.13523 Part of the work was performed while Beck was a postdoctoral scientist at Northwestern University in Chicago. Coauthors are: Tomiko Yoneda, UC Davis, and Northwestern; Daniel Mroczek and Eileen Graham, Northwestern; Bryan James, David Bennett and John Morris, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago; Jason Hassenstab, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis; Mindy Katz and Richard Lipton, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Bronx.The work was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging.