Cognitive decline tested
The study comes from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and a branch of the college called the Montefiore Health System.
Since 2005 scientists at the college have been collecting data on 507 people 70 and older; none had significant cognitive decline or dementia when entering the study.
To determine the stress level of participants they were tested at regular intervals using the 14-point Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The results were graded on a scale of 0 to 56 and the higher the score the more stress a participant was undergoing.
Results, published online Friday, Dec. 11th in the journal ‘Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders,’ found chronic stress on the elderly makes the chances of developing “amnestic mild cognitive impairment” (aMCI) more than twice as likely.
The study found the greater the amount of stress elderly participants were under the more likely that person would develop the cognitive impairment that often leads to Alzheimer’s. Stress was considered to be such things as difficult ongoing life circumstances and possible problems in the future.
Managing stress helps
Mindy Katz is a senior associate of neurology at the Einstein College and lead the study and issued a statement on the results. She noted that stress does not have to lead to cognitive decline and said that there are ways to mitigate the effects of stress upon your cognition.
“Perceived stress reflects the daily hassles we all experience, as well as the way we appraise and cope with these events,” Dr. Katz wrote. “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,” she said.
