Study reveals psychological profiles associated with mental and brain health in middle-aged and older adults

As humans age, their brain functions may gradually decline and they become more vulnerable to the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. Dementia and other progressive neurological conditions can significantly impair their memory, thinking skills and daily functioning, significantly reducing their quality of life.

Many psychological and neurological studies have attempted to identify biological markers and lifestyle factors that may contribute to the development of dementia. Yet, the contribution of psychological characteristics (e.g., character traits, emotional well-being, and cognitive resilience) to the decline of mental functions remains poorly understood.

Researchers from the University of Barcelona, ​​University College London (UCL), the University of Normandy and other institutes across Europe recently set out to fill this gap in the literature, trying to determine whether specific sets of psychological characteristics are linked to brain health in middle and late adulthood. . Their paper, published In Natural mental healthidentified three key psychological profiles linked to different cognitive factors and mental health trajectories after middle age.

“Psychological characteristics are associated with different dementia risks and protective factors,” David Bartrés-Faz, Harriet Demnitz-King and colleagues wrote in their paper. “To determine whether these characteristics cluster into psychological profiles and whether these profiles are differentially related to aging health, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of two independent cohorts of middle-aged and older adults, supplemented by longitudinal analyzes in the first.”

Bartrés-Faz, Demnitz-King and their colleagues used a person-centered approach, an analysis method designed to group individuals based on certain common characteristics, to analyze questionnaire responses from 750 middle-aged and 282 people. elderly people who were interviewed as part of the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative. They were finally able to identify three main profiles bringing together specific psychological characteristics.

Participants in this study were surveyed again 2 to 3 years later to determine whether their mental health and brain function had declined. Interestingly, the researchers found that the three distinct profiles discovered were linked to different levels of cognitive and brain decline.

“Through a person-centered approach, three profiles emerged in both cohorts: those with low protective characteristics (profile 1), high-risk characteristics (profile 2) and well-balanced characteristics (profile 3)” , the researchers wrote. “Profile 1 showed the worst objective cognition in the elderly and middle-aged (at follow-up) and the fastest cortical thinning. Profile 2 showed the worst mental health symptoms and the lowest quality of sleep in both the elderly and middle-aged.”

Overall, the results of this study suggest that psychological characteristicssuch as worry proneness, neuroticism, introspection, extroversion, agreeableness, etc., are actually associated with the extent to which people’s mental and brain health deteriorate with aging. The three distinct profiles discovered were found to be linked to different mental health outcomes.

The first profile, marked by a certain degree of worry and neuroticism, with a lack of openness, agreeableness, extroversion, conscientiousness and purpose in life, was found to be related to the highest level cognitive decline and cortical thinning (i.e. a marker of brain aging). The second profile, marked by high levels of moodiness, worry, and neuroticism, as well as introspection and very little openness, conscientiousness, and purpose in life, was associated with the worst mental health outcomes and poorer quality of sleep.

The third profile was the most psychologically “balanced,” as it was marked by some degree of moodiness but little worry and neuroticism, as well as considerable levels of anxiety. introspectionextroversion, agreeableness, open-mindedness, conscientiousness and purpose in life. Notably, this profile was found to be associated with better cognitive and mental health outcomes at follow-up (i.e., when participants were surveyed again a few years later).

These results provide new insights into psychological factors which could contribute to a decline brain function and mental health in later stages of life. In the future, the work of Bartrés-Faz, Harriet, Demnitz-King and their collaborators could pave the way for new research focused on the psychological profiles they discovered and their contribution to neurological disorders linked to aging.

“We identified divergent profile-dependent patterns of associations that may suggest two distinct pathways for mental, cognitive and brain healthhighlighting the need for comprehensive psychological assessments in dementia prevention research to identify groups for more personalized behavior change strategies,” Bartrés-Faz, Demnitz-King, and colleagues wrote.

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