Stark, Danielle
(2018)
The relationship between personality changes and amyloid-β in cognitively normal adults.
Master Essay, University of Pittsburgh.
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Microsoft Word (Personality Change and Amyloid Beta, Master's essay April 2018)
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Abstract
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder accounting for 60% to 80% of all dementia cases. AD neuropathology is characterized by both intracellular tau and extracellular amyloid-β (Aβ), the latter of which is thought to accumulate a decade or more before onset of clinical symptomology. Cognitive hallmarks of disease progression include initial mild cognitive impairment followed by progressive decline in cognition, memory, and routine daily functioning. Epidemiologic studies suggest some premorbid personality traits are a risk factor for incident AD and may begin before clinical onset. Two hypotheses have emerged to explain this association: The Risk Factor hypothesis posits that personality is a true pre-morbid risk factor independent of early disease pathology, while the Reverse Causality hypothesis holds that personality reflects behavior change as an early indicator of sub-clinical AD neuropathology. The aim of this research was to evaluate the Reverse Causality hypothesis by evaluating the cross-sectional relationship between baseline Aβ and personality scores and test whether Aβ levels predict change in personality in cognitively normal older adults.
Data were collected between 2010 and 2017 from two University of Pittsburgh imaging studies. All individuals completed a baseline 11C Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB)-PET scan measuring brain Aβ deposition and NEOTM-FFI-3 personality assessment (N=106). Among individuals with at least one APOE allele variant, PiB(+) status was significantly associated with higher neuroticism score F(3,17)= 4.918, p=.040, and lower conscientiousness score, F(3,17)=13.665, p= .002. In the longitudinal model, only openness (β =-0.271, p=0.010) and conscientiousness (β = -0.225, p=0.031) were associated with baseline age and there was no association between length of follow-up and personality change. The data suggest that there is no longitudinal association between baseline PiB status and self-reported personality change in non-demented older adults. Results are inconsistent with the Reverse Causality hypothesis indicating that personality change may not be a sufficient indicator of subclinical AD neuropathology. This research has important public health significance as it adds to better understanding of brain Aβ and personality changes in older adults at risk of developing AD, which may eventually lead to new early interventions.
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| Item Type: |
Other Thesis, Dissertation, or Long Paper
(Master Essay)
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| Contributors: |
| Contribution | Contributors Name | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Committee Chair | Rosso, Andrea | alr143@pitt.edu | alr143 | UNSPECIFIED | | Committee Member | Snitz, Beth | bes9@pitt.edu | bes9 | UNSPECIFIED | | Committee Member | Nadkarni, Neelesh | nkn3@pitt.edu | nkn3 | UNSPECIFIED |
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| Date: |
2018 |
| Date Type: |
Submission |
| Number of Pages: |
50 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Public Health > Epidemiology |
| Degree: |
MPH - Master of Public Health |
| Thesis Type: |
Master Essay |
| Refereed: |
No |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Alzheimer's Disease, Amyloid, Personality, Personality change, Cognitive Impairment |
| Date Deposited: |
19 Aug 2019 19:05 |
| Last Modified: |
19 Aug 2019 19:05 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/34055 |
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