A new study shows that being stressed has been found to increase the likelihood that elderly people will develop mild cognitive impairmentthat may result in full-blown Alzheimer's disease. In a new study, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System found that highly stressed participants were more than twice as likely to become impaired than those who were not. The results suggest that detecting and treating stress in older people might help delay or even prevent the onset of Alzheimer's.
[The] study provides strong evidence that perceived stress increases the likelihood that an older person will develop aMCI[amnestic mild cognitive impairment]." Richard Lipton, M.D. To confirm that stress was independently increasing risk for aMCI in this study, the researchers assessed whether depressionwhich increases the risk for stress as well as for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's diseasemight have influenced the results. They found that depression did not significantly affect the relationship observed between stress and the onset of aMCI.
The researchers studied data collected from 507 people enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study (EAS), a community-based cohort of older adults. The study recruited adults 70 and over who live in Bronx County, NY. Participants undergo annual assessments that include clinical evaluations, a neuropsychological battery of tests, psychosocial measures, medical history, assessments of daily-living activities and reports of memory and other cognitive complaints.
The study provides strong evidence that perceived stress increases the likelihood that an older person will develop aMCI," said Richard Lipton, M.D., senior author of the study, vice chair of neurology at Einstein and Montefiore, and professor in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and the Edwin S. Lowe Chair of Neurology at Einstein. Fortunately, perceived stress is a modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment, making it a potential target for treatment."
Richard Lipton, M.D. Each year, approximately 470,000 Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. Many first experience mild cognitive impairmenta pre-dementia condition that significantly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's in the following months or years." This study looked at the connection between chronic stress and amnestic mild cognitive impairment" (aMCI), the most common type of MCI, which is primarily characterized by memory loss.
Perceived stress reflects the daily hassles people experience, as well as the way people choose to cope with the events," said the study's first author, Mindy Katz, M.P.H., senior associate in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology at Einstein. Perceived stress can be altered by mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive-behavioral therapies and stress-reducing drugs. These interventions may postpone or even prevent an individual's cognitive decline."
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