Psychological medicine
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Psychological medicine · Nov 2013
Impairment in instrumental activities of daily living with high cognitive demand is an early marker of mild cognitive impairment: the Sydney memory and ageing study.
Criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) consider impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) as exclusionary, but cross-sectional studies suggest that some high-level functional deficits are present in MCI. This longitudinal study examines informant-rated IADL in MCI, compared with cognitively normal (CN) older individuals, and explores whether functional abilities, particularly those with high cognitive demand, are predictors of MCI and dementia over a 2-year period in individuals who were CN at baseline. ⋯ IADL are affected in individuals with MCI, and IADL with a high cognitive demand show impairment predating the diagnosis of MCI. Subtle cognitive impairment is therefore likely to be a major hidden burden in society.
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Psychological medicine · Nov 2013
Negative and positive life events are associated with small but lasting change in neuroticism.
High neuroticism is prospectively associated with psychopathology and physical health. However, within-subject changes in neuroticism due to life experiences (LEs) or state effects of current psychopathology are largely unexplored. In this 2-year follow-up study, four hypotheses were tested: (1) positive LEs (PLEs) decrease and negative LEs (NLEs) increase neuroticism; (2) LE-driven change in neuroticism is partly long-lasting; and (3) partly independent of LE-driven changes in anxiety/depression; and (4) childhood adversity (before age 16 years) moderates the influence of NLEs/PLEs on neuroticism scores in adult life. ⋯ Distant PLEs are associated with small but long-lasting decreases in neuroticism regardless of changes in symptom levels of anxiety/depression. Long-lasting increases in neuroticism associated with distant NLEs are mediated by anxiety/depression.