Abstract

Chronic stress is a risk factor for dementia but whether it explains unique variance in cognitive decline in older adults above Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers is unknown. In a preclinical cohort of Vietnam Veterans, we examined the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, AD biomarkers of beta-amyloid (Aβ) and tau, and change in cognitive performance on two widely-used screeners, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Analyses indicated that PTSD symptom severity was associated with a greater decline on the MMSE (p < 0.04) and MoCA (p < 0.024) after adjusting for biomarkers of AD, notably on the attention scale of the MoCA and the memory index of the MMSE. These analyses survived multiple comparison corrections. Taken together, PTSD symptom severity is associated with accelerated cognitive decline. Treating PTSD should be considered instrumental to maintaining cognitive function as adults age.

Details

Title
Posttraumatic stress symptom severity predicts cognitive decline beyond the effect of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in Veterans
Author
Prieto, Sarah 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Nolan, Kate E. 1 ; Moody, Jena N. 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hayes, Scott M. 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hayes, Jasmeet P. 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, USA (GRID:grid.261331.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 2285 7943) 
2  The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, USA (GRID:grid.261331.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 2285 7943); The Ohio State University, Chronic Brain Injury Initiative, Columbus, USA (GRID:grid.261331.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 2285 7943) 
Pages
102
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
21583188
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02354-0
ProQuest document ID
2792195677
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.