1. Anxiety symptoms, cerebral amyloid burden and memory decline in healthy older adults without dementia: 3-year prospective cohort study.
- Author
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Pietrzak RH, Scott JC, Neumeister A, Lim YY, Ames D, Ellis KA, Harrington K, Lautenschlager NT, Szoeke C, Martins RN, Masters CL, Villemagne VL, Rowe CC, and Maruff P
- Subjects
- Aged, Aging metabolism, Anxiety metabolism, Anxiety psychology, Brain diagnostic imaging, Cohort Studies, Executive Function, Female, Humans, Male, Memory Disorders metabolism, Memory Disorders psychology, Neuropsychological Tests, Prospective Studies, Radionuclide Imaging, Aging psychology, Amyloid beta-Peptides metabolism, Anxiety diagnosis, Brain metabolism, Memory, Memory Disorders diagnosis
- Abstract
Although beta-amyloid, anxiety and depression have linked cross-sectionally to reduced memory function in healthy older adults without dementia, prospective data evaluating these associations are lacking. Using data an observational cohort study of 178 healthy older adults without dementia followed for 3 years, we found that anxiety symptoms significantly moderated the relationship between beta-amyloid level and decline in verbal (Cohen's d = 0.65) and episodic (Cohen's d = 0.38) memory. Anxiety symptoms were additionally linked to greater decline in executive function, irrespective of beta-amyloid and other risk factors. These findings suggest that interventions to mitigate anxiety symptoms may help delay memory decline in otherwise healthy older adults with elevated beta-amyloid.
- Published
- 2014
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