Background:
Anxiety and stress have been identified as potential risk factors of cognitive impairment, but research examining this association in midlife has been limited.
Methods:
The current study examined associations between anxiety and stress symptoms, and cognition in middle-aged cognitively unimpaired adults (n = 2463) enrolled in the Healthy Brain Project. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on items in the Anxiety Subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Anxiety and Stress Subscales of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Cogstate Brief Battery.
Results:
When considered as continuous measures of symptom severity, higher anxiety and stress scores were significantly associated with poorer memory and attention. However, having clinically meaningful anxiety symptoms, or both anxiety and stress symptoms, was associated with poorer memory. The solution that resulted in the best fit to the data comprised five factors that explained 48 % of the variance: Over-Reactivity, Panic, Low-Control, Tension and Intolerance. Panic-related symptoms were significantly associated with poorer memory.
Limitations:
Limitations include the cross-sectional nature of the study, which limited ability to ascertain direction of causality and limited external validity of the current findings as individuals with major psychiatric conditions were excluded from the study.
Conclusions:
Anxiety symptoms may be linked to a heightened risk of developing cognitive impairment in midlife. Somatic symptoms and excessive worry may play a particularly strong role in mediating this association.
