Personality and resilience to Alzheimer's disease neuropathology: a prospective autopsy study
Open accessAbstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology is found at autopsy in approximately 30% of cognitively normal older individuals. We examined whether personality traits are associated with such resilience to clinical dementia in individuals with AD neuropathology. Broad factors and specific facets of personality were assessed up to 28 years (mean 11 ± 7 years) before onset of dementia and up to 30 years (mean 15 ± 7 years) before death in a cohort (n = 111) evaluated for AD neuropathology at autopsy. Individuals with higher baseline scores on vulnerability to stress, anxiety, and depression (neuroticism: odds ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-3.5), or lower scores on order and competence (conscientiousness: odds ratio, 0.4; 95% confidence interval, 0.2-0.9) were less likely to remain asymptomatic in the presence of AD neuropathology. Neuroticism (r = 0.26), low agreeableness (r = -0.34), and some facets were also significantly associated with advanced stages of neurofibrillary tangles, but the associations between personality traits and risk of clinical dementia were mostly unchanged by controlling for the extent of neurofibrillary tangles and Aβ neuritic plaques. In sum, a resilient personality profile is associated with lower risk or delay of clinical dementia even in persons with AD neuropathology.
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High vulnerability to stress was linked to more than twice the risk of clinically and neuropathologically confirmed dementia.
“consistent with the present and prior findings where high VS resulted in greater decline in global cognitive functioning and more than doubled the risk of clinical and neuropathological confirmed dementia (34).”
From Neuroticism Traits Selectively Impact Long Term Illness Course and Cognitive Decline in Late-Life Depression (2017) · cites this paper as [34]
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- Authors
- Terracciano, A., Iacono, D., O’Brien, R. J., Troncoso, J. C., An, Y., Sutin, A. R., Ferrucci, L., Zonderman, A. B., & Resnick, S. M.
- Affiliations
- Florida State University (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Terracciano, Antonio
- ORCID
- Venue
- Neurobiology of Aging
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-04
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1045-1050
- ISSN
- 0197-4580 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3541457
- OpenAlex
- W2006720433
- Cited by
- 113
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 3.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Neurobiology of Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging (P50AG05146)
- The Johns Hopkins University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease, personality traits, resilience, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques, stress vulnerability, older adults
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Alzheimer Disease, Autopsy, Dementia, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personality, Personality Disorders, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Comorbidity, Asymptomatic Diseases, Disease Resistance
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