Nearly 7 million people in the United States are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. The condition remains a leading cause of death among seniors, with one in three dying from Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.
November marks Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, which highlights the impact of this disorder on individuals and communities across the country. While there is no cure yet, ongoing research is offering new insights into risk factors and how the disease progresses at the neural level.
Angelina Sutin, a professor at Florida State University College of Medicine, is recognized as a leading researcher in this field. She is available to speak with media about her work and findings related to reducing dementia risk. Professor Sutin can be contacted via email at angelina.sutin@med.fsu.edu.
Sutin’s research focuses on psychological and social factors that affect the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Her goal is to better understand these influences to help develop effective interventions that support cognitive health as people age.
“We find that personality traits, particularly neuroticism and conscientiousness, are associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” Sutin said. “Neuroticism is the tendency to feel moody, anxious, and be sensitive to stress. It is associated with increased risk of dementia. Individuals higher in neuroticism tend to be more sedentary, are more likely to smoke, and are very responsive to stress in daily life. They are also at much greater risk for depression and other chronic diseases.”
She added: “On the other hand, conscientiousness, the tendency toward organization, self-discipline, and responsibility, is protective. Individuals higher in conscientiousness tend to exercise more, are less likely to smoke or use other substances, have better sleep habits, and are less likely to develop chronic diseases such as obesity or diabetes that increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Discussing prevention strategies based on daily behaviors and cognition patterns, Sutin noted: “Most of the research on psychological factors and cognition has focused on how personality traits predict long-term outcomes like Alzheimer’s disease. This research has been important for identifying which psychological factors contribute to the development of the disease over time. From other research, we know a lot about how personality traits are expressed in daily life.”
“We are now trying to better understand how these typical thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of personality traits are related to variation in cognitive function,” she continued. “Looking at these daily dynamics will help to identify better ways to intervene in the times when people are experiencing cognitive problems in their day-to-day lives. Intervening for better everyday functioning may help to preserve cognition as we age.”
Sutin also emphasized cultural differences: “One reason that we study cognitive aging is to find ways to intervene so that people can maintain healthy cognition for as long as possible. Cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease happen across all cultural and social groups. There may be differences, however, in risk and protective factors.”
“The most effective interventions should target the strongest risk/protective factors,” she said. “which may be different depending on cultural or social group. It is also important to know when factors are similar across groups. Conscientiousness, for example, is associated with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease across many different groups. Interventions to increase conscientiousness may need to be culturally tailored but the underlying mechanisms may be similar.”
Regarding emotional well-being and social connection’s role in brain health over time: “We have done a lot of research on the role of emotional well-being and social connection and cognition,” Sutin explained. “We find, for example, that individuals who have more purpose in life — the feeling that one has a life that is goal-oriented and has direction — are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Even before Alzheimer’s disease purpose is associated with having better memory better attention and faster processing speed — all cognitive functions that are necessary for moving through daily life.”
“We also find that social connection is critical for cognitive health and how harmful social disconnection can be,” she said further. “In a recent meta-analysis of more than 600000 people we found that people who feel lonely had a 30% increased risk of all-cause dementia Loneliness was also related to risk of specific dementias including risk of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia We recently found loneliness to be associated with worse memory processing speed reasoning And that similar associations were found in countries from very different parts of the world Africa Asia Europe North Central South America These findings indicate how harmful loneliness can be no matter where one lives.”
