PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES IN LATE-LIFE DEPRESSION AND MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Abstract

Introduction Previous research has shown links between depression, personality factors, and cognitive decline. For example, Alzheimer's patients show higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion as compared to cognitively normal older adults as stated in a meta-analysis conducted by D'lorio et al. (2018). Elsewhere, one study found older adults who transitioned from cognitively normal aging to mild cognitive impairment experienced an increase in neuroticism and depression as well as a decrease in openness (Caselli et al., 2018). The current study examined personality differences between older adults with major depression and non-depressed cognitively normal controls and depressed patients with and without mild cognitive impairment. Based off of prior work using a different sample, we hypothesized higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion between patients and controls. We further hypothesized that patients with memory impairment (amnestic MCI) would exhibit decreased conscientiousness, openness, extraversion, and agreeableness and increased neuroticism compared to patients without memory impairment, a pattern of performance similar to AD patients. Methods Data from the Neurobiology of Late-Life Depression (NBOLD) study were used. Individuals were either depressed patients or never-depressed controls. We further divided patients and controls into cognitively normal or mild cognitive impairment groups using psychometric criteria from Bondi and Jak (ref). Personality, depression, and cognition were assessed using the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) cognitive battery, respectively. A t-test for independent samples and a general linear modeling via MANOVA with covariates were conducted to examine group differences between patients and controls as well as between patients with amnestic MCI and without amnestic MCI. Results Patients (N=117) showed higher levels of neuroticism (F=90.33, p= Conclusions There are statistically significant personality differences in neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness between patients and controls, indicating an interaction between depression and personality factors. Older adults with depression and memory impairment reported less sociability and less openness to new experiences compared to older adults with depression and no memory impairment. Future studies should examine whether early changes in personality are a marker of cognitive decline in older adults with major depression. This research was funded by: This research was supported by The Leo and Anne Albert Charitable Trust and NIMH Grant R01 MH108578. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs, Aetna Health Professions Partnership Initiative.