Singh-Manoux, A; Yerramalla, MS; Sabia, S; Kivimäki, M; Fayosse, A; Dugravot, A; Dumurgier, J; (2020) Association of big-5 personality traits with cognitive impairment and dementia: a longitudinal study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health , 74 (10) pp. 799-805. 10.1136/jech-2019-213014.

Preview	Text (Article) Personality cognition FINAL jech R3.pdf - Accepted Version Download (346kB) | Preview
Preview	Text (Supplementary data) Personality cognition FINAL suppl data R3.pdf - Accepted Version Download (294kB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Personality traits have been linked to cognitive outcomes such as dementia, but whether these associations are robust to the effects of third variables remains the subject of debate. We examined the role of socioeconomic status, depression (history and depressive symptoms), health behaviours and chronic conditions in the association of the big-5 personality traits with cognitive performance, cognitive impairment and incidence of dementia. METHODS: Data on 6135 persons (30% women), aged 60-83 years in 2012/13, are drawn from the Whitehall II Study. Participants responded to the 26-item Midlife Development Inventory to assess personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism), underwent cognitive testing in 2012/13 and 2015/16 and were followed for incidence of dementia (N=231) until 2019. RESULTS: Logistic regression, adjusted for sociodemographic factors, suggested a cross-sectional association with cognitive impairment for four of the five traits but only neuroticism was associated with incident cognitive impairment. All associations were completely attenuated when the analyses were adjusted for depression. Cox regression (mean follow-up: 6.18 years) adjusted for sociodemographic variables showed higher conscientiousness (HR per SD increment=0.72; 95% CI 0.65 to 0.81) and extraversion (HR=0.85; 95% CI 0.75 to 0.97) to be associated with lower dementia risk; higher neuroticism (HR=1.32; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.49) was associated with increased risk. Further adjustment for depression led to only conscientiousness retaining an association with dementia (HR=0.81; 95% CI 0.69 to 0.96), which was robust to adjustment for all covariates (HR=0.84; 95% CI 0.71 to 0.91; P=0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results show that only conscientiousness has an association with incidence of dementia that is not attributable to socioeconomic status or depression. The association of neuroticism with dementia was explained by depression.

Download activity - last month

Export as XMLJSONCSV

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as CSVJSONXML

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVJSONXML

Archive Staff Only

View Item