Personality associations with amyloid and tau: Results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and meta-analysis
Background: Higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness are risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, but the underlying neuropathological correlates remain unclear. Our aim was to examine whether personality traits are associated with amyloid and tau neuropathology in a new sample and meta-analyses. Methods: Participants from Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and underwent amyloid (11C-labeled Pittsburgh Compound B) and tau (18F-flortaucipir) positron emission tomography. Results: Among cognitively normal BLSA participants, neuroticism was associated with higher (OR = 1.68, 1.20–2.34) and conscientiousness with lower (OR = 0.61, 0.44–0.86) cortical amyloid burden. These associations remained significant after accounting for age, sex, education, depressive symptoms, hippocampal volume, and APOE ε4. Similar associations were found with tau in the entorhinal cortex. Random-effect meta-analyses of 12 studies found higher neuroticism (N = 3015, r = .07, P=.008) and lower conscientiousness (N = 2990, r = -.11, P<.001) were associated with more amyloid deposition. Meta-analyses of 8 studies found higher neuroticism (N = 2231, r = .15, P<.001) and lower conscientiousness (N = 2206, r = -.14, P<.001) were associated with more tau pathology. The associations were moderated by cognitive status, with stronger effects in cognitively normal compared to heterogeneous samples, suggesting that the associations between personality and proteopathies are not phenomena that emerge with neuropsychiatric clinical symptoms. Conclusions: By aggregating results across samples, this study advances knowledge on the association between personality and neuropathology. Neuroticism and conscientiousness may contribute to resistance against amyloid and tau neuropathology.
1 online resource
FSU_libsubv1_scholarship_submission_1633372269_9729e407_p
10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.021
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)
Biological Psychiatry
Personality, Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid, tau, neuropsychiatric disorders, meta-analysis
The version of record can be found at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.021
R01AG068093, R01AG053297
Personality, Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid, tau, neuropsychiatric disorders, meta-analysis
Personality associations with amyloid and tau: Results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and meta-analysis
text
journal article
2021-09-03
Background: Higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness are risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, but the underlying neuropathological correlates remain unclear. Our aim was to examine whether personality traits are associated with amyloid and tau neuropathology in a new sample and meta-analyses. Methods: Participants from Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and underwent amyloid (11C-labeled Pittsburgh Compound B) and tau (18F-flortaucipir) positron emission tomography. Results: Among cognitively normal BLSA participants, neuroticism was associated with higher (OR = 1.68, 1.20–2.34) and conscientiousness with lower (OR = 0.61, 0.44–0.86) cortical amyloid burden. These associations remained significant after accounting for age, sex, education, depressive symptoms, hippocampal volume, and APOE ε4. Similar associations were found with tau in the entorhinal cortex. Random-effect meta-analyses of 12 studies found higher neuroticism (N = 3015, r = .07, P=.008) and lower conscientiousness (N = 2990, r = -.11, P<.001) were associated with more amyloid deposition. Meta-analyses of 8 studies found higher neuroticism (N = 2231, r = .15, P<.001) and lower conscientiousness (N = 2206, r = -.14, P<.001) were associated with more tau pathology. The associations were moderated by cognitive status, with stronger effects in cognitively normal compared to heterogeneous samples, suggesting that the associations between personality and proteopathies are not phenomena that emerge with neuropsychiatric clinical symptoms. Conclusions: By aggregating results across samples, this study advances knowledge on the association between personality and neuropathology. Neuroticism and conscientiousness may contribute to resistance against amyloid and tau neuropathology.
The version of record can be found at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.021
Personality, Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid, tau, neuropsychiatric disorders, meta-analysis
FSU_libsubv1_scholarship_submission_1633372269_9729e407
10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.021
English
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)