Aging populations experience disproportionate risk for cognitive decline, which may be exacerbated by coronavirus (COVID-19) illness, particularly among women. This study tested sex as a moderator of associations between COVID-19 state anxiety and cognition in middle-aged/older adults. Adults aged 50+ ( N = 275; 151 men/124 women) completed the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale and Cognitive Failures Questionnaire online from remote locations in July/August 2020. A subset of participants ( n = 62) completed an objective cognitive task (Stroop). Multiple regressions determined whether sex moderated associations between COVID-19 anxiety and cognitive outcomes. Sex was a significant moderator, such that for women (not men), greater COVID-19 anxiety was associated with more memory failures and blunders (subjective measures) and worse processing speed (objective measure). COVID-19 state anxiety is linked to everyday cognition and processing speed in women, but not men. Consistency across subjective and objective measures promotes the need for sex-specific understanding of the pandemic’s behavioral and cognitive effects in mid-to-late life.

No abstract

Introduction Worse sleep has been linked to cognitive dysfunction in aging populations. There are known sex differences in the prevalence and presentation of both sleep disturbance and cognitive impairment, but research investigating sex differences in the associations between sleep and objective cognition is limited and inconclusive. We examined sex as a moderator of associations between self-reported sleep and objective cognitive performance in middle-aged/older adults. Methods Sixty-four adults aged 50+ (Mage= 63.8, SD=7.7; 33 men/31 women) who were cognitively healthy (no mild cognitive impairment, dementia or neurological disorders) completed an online survey (via Qualtrics) measuring self-reported sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSQI). Participants completed online cognitive tasks (via Inquisit) measuring inhibition (Stroop task; interference reaction time scores), attentional orienting (Posner Endogenous Cueing Task; reaction time difference between invalidly cued and validly cued trials), and working memory (Sternberg task; proportion correct). Multiple regressions examined whether PSQI subscores (sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep efficiency) were independently associated with or interacted with sex in their associations with cognition, controlling for age and education. Results Sex interacted with sleep quality in the association with endogenous attentional orienting (p=.01, R-squared=.10). Specifically, worse sleep quality was associated with worse attentional orienting in women (B=22.73, SE=9.53, p=.02) but not men (p=.24). Sex interacted with PSQI-sleep duration (p=.03, R-squared=.08) and PSQI-sleep efficiency (p=.03, R-squared=.08) in the association with inhibition performance. Specifically, worse sleep duration (B=235.28, SE=77.51, p=.004) and sleep efficiency (B=211.73, SE=68.70, p=.003) were associated with worse interference scores in men but not women (ps>.05). No variables were associated with working memory. Conclusion In middle-aged and older adults, sex moderates associations between self-reported sleep and objective cognition, depending on the sleep parameter and cognitive ability assessed. Findings suggest that women are more vulnerable to the effects of poor sleep quality on spatial attention, whereas men are more vulnerable to the effects of shorter sleep duration and worse overall sleep fragmentation on ability to inhibit task-irrelevant stimuli. Future studies should investigate sex-specific associations between sleep and cognition over time in order to better understand the prospective trajectories of these processes during aging. Support (if any):

Introduction Research has found relationships between sleep quality and personality traits. Poor subjective sleep quality has been observed within individuals scoring high in Neuroticism and low in Conscientiousness. Personality traits have also been associated with cognitive functioning and the link being worse cognition and poor sleep quality is established. However, less is known regarding the role of cognitive functioning in the relationship between personality and sleep quality, particularly in aging populations. This study investigated whether subjective cognition acted as a mediator between individual personality traits and subjective sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults. Methods Middle-aged and older adults (N=269; Mage= 64.5, SD=7.8; 123 women/146 men) who were cognitively healthy completed an online survey through Qualtrics measuring demographics, personality (Big Five Inventory-10; BFI-10), self-reported sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSQI), and subjective everyday cognition (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire; CFQ). Separate mediation analyses using SPSS PROCESS macro [and testing for indirect effects using 5,000 bootstrapped samples and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) and controlling for conditional associations among all pathways] examined whether subjective everyday cognition (CFQ scores) mediated the relationship between different personality traits (BFI-10 Conscientiousness and Neuroticism scores) and self-reported sleep (PSQI-Total Score), controlling for age and sex. Results Neuroticism and PSQI-Total Score was partially mediated by CFQ. There was a significant association between Neuroticism and total PSQI (total effect=0.588, SE=0.110, p<0.001). There were positive associations between Neuroticism and CFQ (a-path effect=2.765, SE=0.383, p<0.001) and CFQ and PSQI (b-path effect=0.068, SE=0.017, p<0.001). The indirect effect was significant (effect=0.187, SE=0.054, 95% CI=0.088 to 0.301). There was no association between Conscientiousness and PSQI-Total Score (total effect=-0.123, SE=0.133, p=0.358), therefore mediation analysis (testing of CFQ as a mediator) was discontinued. Conclusion In middle-aged and older adults, subjective everyday cognition mediates the relationship between Neuroticism personality trait and self-reported sleep quality. Individuals scoring higher in Neuroticism report worse subjective sleep quality as their subjective cognitive failures increase. Findings underscore the interacting roles of personality and everyday cognition on perceived sleep. Clinicians should consider individual personality profiles (via personality assessments) and subjective everyday cognitive ratings for a better understanding of the factors impacting middle-aged and older adults’ sleep profiles. Support (if any):