Midlife perceived stress is associated with cognitive decline across three decades

Abstract

Background Research indicates detrimental effects of stress on brain health and cognitive functioning, but population-based studies using comprehensive measures of cognitive decline is lacking. The present study examined the association of midlife perceived stress with cognitive decline from young adulthood to late midlife, controlling for early life circumstances, education and trait stress (neuroticism). Methods The sample consisted of 292 members of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort (1959–1961) with continued participation in two subsequent follow-up studies. Cognitive ability was assessed in young adulthood (mean age 27 years) and midlife (mean age 56 years) using the full Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), and perceived stress was measured at midlife using the Perceived Stress Scale. The association of midlife perceived stress with decline in Verbal, Performance and Full-Scale IQ was assessed in multiple regression models based on Full Information Maximum Likelihood estimation. Results Over a mean retest interval of 29 years, average decline in IQ score was 2.42 (SD 7.98) in Verbal IQ and 8.87 (SD 9.37) in Performance IQ. Mean decline in Full-scale IQ was 5.63 (SD 7.48), with a retest correlation of 0.83. Controlling for parental socio-economic position, education and young adult IQ, higher perceived stress at midlife was significantly associated with greater decline in Verbal (β = − 0.012), Performance (β = − 0.025), and Full-scale IQ (β = − 0.021), all p < .05. Across IQ scales, additionally controlling for neuroticism in young adulthood and change in neuroticism had only minor effects on the association of midlife perceived stress with decline. Conclusions Despite very high retest correlations, decline was observed on all WAIS IQ scales. In fully adjusted models, higher midlife perceived stress was associated with greater decline on all scales, indicating a negative association of stress with cognitive ability. The association was strongest for Performance and Full-scale IQ, perhaps reflecting the greater decline on these IQ scales compared to Verbal IQ.

Stress and mental health in populations of societies exposed to extraordinary circumstances : with focus on perceived and biological stress, perceived health, psychosocial factors, and sense of coherence

“…Another major concern for long-term stress in older people is its deteriorating effect on cognitive function (99,108,109) where egocentric stressors are more associated to cognitive impairment than non-egocentric stressors (101). There is also evidence that long-lasting effects from psychosocial working conditions (110), and high perceived stress in mid-life is a risk factor for cognitive decline in older age (111).…”

Estrés y cognición: propiedades psicométricas de la Escala de Estrés Percibido y asociaciones con el funcionamiento cognitivo, síntomas prefrontales y quejas cognitivas

“…La literatura previa sugiere que el estrés psicológico podría deteriorar el funcionamiento cognitivo (Bedoya-Cardona & Vásquez-Caballero, 2019;Christensen et al, 2023;Khalili-Mahani et al, 2010;Law & Clow, 2020), entendiendo este último como la capacidad de utilizar y procesar información en distintas tareas a través de diferentes procesos cognitivos cuya base se encuentra en los sustratos cerebrales (Paprocki & Lenskiy, 2017;Veses et al, 2015). Específicamente, se conoce que la exposición continua al estrés de alta intensidad tiene repercusiones en la formación de recuerdos, recuperación de información implícita y el razonamiento complejo o flexible (Calvo & Gutiérrez-García, 2016); además, se asocia con una memoria de trabajo disminuida en tareas basadas en estimulación visoespacial (p. ej.…”