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. 2017 Jun:89:22-27.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.01.011. Epub 2017 Jan 22.

Personality traits and risk of cognitive impairment and dementia

Antonio Terracciano  1 , Yannick Stephan  2 , Martina Luchetti  3 , Emiliano Albanese  4 , Angelina R Sutin  3
Affiliations

Personality traits and risk of cognitive impairment and dementia

Antonio Terracciano et al. J Psychiatr Res. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

We investigated the association between five factor model personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and risk of dementia, cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND), and conversion from CIND to dementia in a large national cohort. Participants from the Health and Retirement Study (N > 10,000) completed a personality scale in 2006-2008 and their cognitive status was tracked for up to 8 years using the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICSm). Adjusting for age, sex, education, race, and ethnicity, lower conscientiousness and agreeableness and higher neuroticism were independently associated with increased risk of dementia. These associations remained significant after adjusting for other risk factors for dementia, including income, wealth, smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and blood biomarkers. These associations were not modified by age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education, suggesting that the associations of personality with risk of dementia were similar across demographic groups. Neuroticism and conscientiousness were also associated with risk of CIND. Low conscientiousness predicted conversion from CIND to dementia. Using brief assessments of personality and cognition, we found robust evidence that personality is associated with risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in a large national sample.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; Dementia; Personality; Prospective study.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Classification of the study participants at baseline and incident cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND) and dementia at follow-up.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Personality scores by cognitive status. Notes: n = 13,882 total sample; n = 11,154 normal, n = 2,236 cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND), n = 492 dementia at baseline. The personality scores were z-transformed, so for the total sample the Mean=0 and SD=1. The bars represent estimated marginal means from models that accounted for demographic variables. Error bars are SE.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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