Daniel Eriksson Sörman

Effects of Perceived Long-Term Stress on Subjective and Objective Aspects of Memory and Cognitive Functioning in a Middle-Aged Population-Based Sample

ABSTRACT The longitudinal effects of perceived stress on measures of memory and two other cognitive functions (word fluency, visuospatial ability) in a middle-aged sample (40–60 years, M age = 47.1 years, SD = 6.1 years; n = 192) were examined. A group describing themselves as stressed in general at baseline, and at follow-up measurement 5 and 10 years later (n = 96) was compared with a matched (age, sex) low-stress group (n = 96). The results revealed more depressive symptoms over time in the high-stress group. With regard to memory, a dissociation between subjective and objective measures was observed. Specifically, participants in the high-stress group rated their memory as worse over time as compared with controls, and reported a higher frequency of occurrence of everyday memory failures, effects partly independent of depressive symptoms. However, the groups did not differ in terms of objective episodic memory performance, word fluency or block design performance, with stable levels of performance over time regardless of perceived stress. The lack of effects of stress on cognitive performance is discussed in the light of factors such as stress level, age of the participants, and other individual difference factors.

Dental Status Is Unrelated to Risk of Dementia: A 20-Year Prospective Study

Conflict of Interest: The editor in chief has reviewed the conflict of interest checklist provided by the authors and has determined that the authors have no financial or any other kind of personal conflicts with this paper. The research of GJB is supported by Grant 2003.01.004 from the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation and Grant 2010T073 from the Netherlands Heart Foundation. Grant 2003.01.004 was also used for the cognitive assessment in the Hoorn Study. SMH is supported by Internationale Stichting Alzheimer Onderzoek Grant 10506. Author Contributions: Sophie Heringa performed statistical analyses and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Esther van den Berg and Yael Reijmer collected cognitive and anthropomorphic data and questionnaires. Iris Walraven collected fundus photographs. Annette C. Moll graded fundus photographs. Giel Nijpels, Coen Stehouwer, and Jacqueline Dekker were principle investigators of the Hoorn Study. Esther van den Berg, Jacqueline Dekker, L. Jaap Kappelle, and Geert Jan Biessels participated in design of the study and interpretation of data and contributed to the discussion. All authors contributed to and approved the final manuscript. Sponsor’s Role: None. REFERENCES

Social relationships and risk of dementia: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND The objective was to examine whether aspects of social relationships in old age are associated with all-cause dementia and Alzheimers disease (AD). METHODS We studied 1,715 older adults (≥ 65 years) who were dementia-free at baseline over a period of up to 16 years. Data on living status, contact/visit frequency, satisfaction with contact frequency, and having/not having a close friend were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regressions with all-cause dementia or AD as the dependent variable. To control for reverse causality and to identify potential long-term effects, we additionally performed analyses with delayed entry. RESULTS We identified 373 incident cases of dementia (207 with AD) during follow-up. The variable visiting/visits from friends was associated with reduced risk of all-cause dementia. Further, a higher value on the relationships index (sum of all variables) was associated with reduced risk of all-cause dementia and AD. However, in analyses with delayed entry, restricted to participants with a survival time of three years or more, none of the social relationship variables was associated with all-cause dementia or AD. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that certain aspects of social relationships are associated with incident dementia or AD, but also that these associations may reflect reverse causality. Future studies aimed at identifying other factors of a persons social life that may have the potential to postpone dementia should consider the effects of reverse causality.

Reading Habits Among Older Adults in Relation to Level and 15-Year Changes in Verbal Fluency and Episodic Recall

The main objective of this study was to investigate reading habits in older adults in relation to level and 15-year changes in verbal fluency and episodic recall. We examined a sample of 1157 participants (≥55 years at baseline) up to 15 years after the baseline assessment using latent growth curve modeling of cognitive measures with baseline reading frequency (books, weekly magazines) as a predictor of cognitive level (intercept) and rate of change (slope). Subgroup analyses were performed to investigate the role of an early adult g factor in the association between reading habits and cognitive ability in midlife. Frequent reading of books, but not of magazines, was associated with higher levels of verbal fluency and recall but unrelated to rate of longitudinal decline. Subgroup analyses indicated that the g factor in early adulthood predicted reading and cognitive level in midlife and this factor removed the current association between reading habits and level of cognitive ability (both cognitive factors). The results indicate an enduring relationship between book reading and level of cognitive ability across the adult life span and provide little support of the hypothesis that frequent reading protects against late-life cognitive decline. The extent to which book reading promotes cognitive functioning in childhood/youth remains to be demonstrated. Intervention studies may be useful in this regard.

Longitudinal effects of bilingualism on dual-tasking

An ongoing debate surrounds whether bilinguals outperform monolinguals in tests of executive processing. The aim of this study was to investigate if there are long-term (10 year) bilingual advantages in executive processing, as indexed by dual-task performance, in a sample that were 40–65 years at baseline. The bilingual (n = 24) and monolingual (n = 24) participants were matched on age, sex, education, fluid intelligence, and study sample. Participants performed free-recall for a 12-item list in three dual-task settings wherein they sorted cards either during encoding, retrieval, or during both encoding and retrieval of the word-list. Free recall without card sorting was used as a reference to compute dual-task costs. The results showed that bilinguals significantly outperformed monolinguals when they performed card-sorting during both encoding and retrieval of the word-list, the condition that presumably placed the highest demands on executive functioning. However, dual-task costs increased over time for bilinguals relative to monolinguals, a finding that is possibly influenced by retirement age and limited use of second language in the bilingual group.

To what extent is subjective well-being in late adulthood related to subjective and objective memory functioning? : Five-year cross-lagged panel analyses

ABSTRACT Background: Population aging motivated a focus in contemporary research on factors, e.g. cognitive functioning, that contribute to ‘aging well.’ However, something that has been overlooked is relation between memory functioning, determined by objective tests as well as subjective memory ratings, and subjective well-being (SWB). Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal (cross-lagged) relationships between episodic memory (both subjective and objective) and SWB. Method: A total of 586 older individuals (60–90 years) were assessed on multiple measures of the targeted constructs at baseline (Time 1) as part of the Betula cohort study. Five years later (Time 2), 354 of the participants returned for follow-up measurements and were included in cross-lagged panel analyses. Results: As expected, objective memory and subjective memory showed a pattern of cross-sectional age deficits and a mean level longitudinal decline was observed for objective memory. By contrast, SWB showed stable mean levels both across age and time. No cross-sectional or cross-lagged associations were observed between SWB and objective memory, whereas subjective memory and SWB showed a cross-sectional association. Conclusion: The results underscore that successful aging is a multifaceted construct with no or only weak associations between the investigated components. However, SWB and rate of change at the individual level should be considered to define successful aging.