Distress proneness and cognitive decline in a population of older persons

The association between distress proneness and cognitive decline was examined in older residents of a biracial community in Chicago. At baseline, participants completed four cognitive tests that yielded a global measure (baseline mean = 101.2; standard deviation (SD) = 7.8), and a brief measure of the tendency to experience negative emotions (mean = 16.5; SD = 6.7) based on the Neuroticism scale of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Cognitive testing was repeated twice at three-year intervals. In mixed models that controlled age, sex, race, and education, for each point on the distress proneness scale, global cognitive score was 0.12 unit tower at baseline (p < 0.001) and annual rate of decline increased by 0.01 unit (p = 0.002), or about 2%. Thus, cognitive decline was about 30% faster in a person highly prone to distress (score = 24, 90th percentile) compared to the one low in distress proneness (score = 9, 10th percentile). This effect was unchanged after controlling for level of cognitive activity or excluding people with cognitive impairment at baseline, but it was reduced to a trend (p = 0.059) after controlling for depressive symptoms. The results suggest that the tendency to experience psychological distress is associated with increased cognitive decline in old age. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.