Personality changes during transition to MCI

  • Behavioral and personality changes seen in those with Alzheimer's appear to be reflected in very early increases in neuroticism and declines in openness.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a precursor of Alzheimer's disease, although having MCI does not mean you are definitely going to progress to Alzheimer's. A new study suggests that one sign of MCI development might be personality changes.

The study involved 277 cognitively healthy residents of a U.S. County, who had the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 gene (otherwise known as the ‘Alzheimer’s gene’). Over the study period (around 7 years), 25 developed MCI. Their performance on the Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness Personality Inventory—Revised (delivered at the beginning of the study, as well as at other times during the study) was compared with that of the other 252 participants.

Neuroticism increased significantly more in those developing MCI, and openness decreased more. Those developing MCI also showed significantly greater depression, somatization, irritability, anxiety, and aggressive attitude. (Somatization refers to the tendency to generate physical manifestations in response to psychological distress.)

While such personality changes may be barely noticeable at this stage, it may be that diagnosing such early personality changes could help experts develop earlier, safer, and more effective treatments — or even prevention options — for the more severe types of behavior challenges that affect people with Alzheimer's disease.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/ags-pcd012318.php

Reference: 

Related News

A new U.S. study suggests that Alzheimer's disease and other dementias are markedly under-reported on death certificates and medical records. Death certificates tend to only provide an immediate cause, such as pneumonia, and don’t mention the underlying condition that provoked it.

It’s often argued that telling people that they carry genes increasing their risk of Alzheimer’s will simply upset them to no purpose. A new study challenges that idea.

11 new genetic susceptibility factors for Alzheimer’s identified

Understanding a protein's role in familial Alzheimer's disease

Analysis of data from 237 patients with mild cognitive impairment (mean age 79.9) has found that, compared to those carrying the ‘normal’ ApoE3 gene (the most common variant of the ApoE gene), the ApoE4 carriers showed markedly greater rates of shrinkage in 13 of 15 brain regions thought to be k

Analysis of data from more than 8,000 people, most of them older than 60, has revealed that, among the 5,000 people initially tested cognitively normal, carrying one copy of the “Alzheimer’s gene” (ApoE4) only slightly increased men’s risk of developing

Analysis of 700 subjects from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative has revealed a genetic mutation (rs4728029) that’s associated with people who develop Alzheimer’s pathology but don’t show clinical symptoms in their lifetime.

Analysis of brain scans and cognitive scores of 64 older adults from the NIA's Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (average age 76) has found that, between the most cognitively stable and the most declining (over a 12-year period), there was no significant difference in the total amount of amy

A pilot study involving 94 older adults, of whom 18 had Alzheimer’s, 24 had

Data from 6257 older adults (aged 55-90) evaluated from 2005-2012 has revealed that concerns about memory should be taken seriously, with subjective complaints associated with a doubled risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia, and subjective complaints supported by a loved on

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.