Lorena Vallejo1, Mariola Zapater-Fajarí1, Teresa Montoliu1, Sara Puig-Perez2, Juan Nacher3,4, Vanesa Hidalgo1,5, Alicia Salvador1,3. 1. Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychobiology and University Institute for Research in Psychology of Human Resources, Organizational Development and Quality of Work Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. 2. Department of Health Sciences, Valencian International University, Valencia, Spain. 3. Valencian (VLC) Campus Research Microcluster "Technologies of Information and Control Applied to the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Diabetes," University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. 4. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental: Spanish National Network of Research in Mental Health, Madrid, Spain. 5. II Aragón, Department of Psychology and Sociology, Area of Psychobiology, University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain.
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been considered a public health threat due to its growing prevalence, particularly in the older population. It is important to know the effects of psychosocial stress and its potential consequences for some basic cognitive processes that are important in daily life. Currently, there is very little information about how people with T2D face acute psychosocial stressors, and even less about how their response affects working memory (WM), which is essential for their functionality and independence. Our aim was to characterize the response to an acute laboratory psychosocial stressor and its effects on WM in older people with T2D. Fifty participants with T2D from 52 to 77 years old were randomly assigned to a stress (12 men and 12 women) or control (12 men and 14 women) condition. Mood and physiological (cortisol, C, and salivary alpha-amylase, sAA) responses to tasks were measured. In addition, participants completed a WM test before and after the stress or control task. Our results showed that the TSST elicited higher negative affect and greater C and sAA responses than the control task. No significant differences in WM were observed depending on the exposure to stress or the control task. Finally, participants who showed higher C and sAA responses to the stressor had lower WM performance. Our results indicate that medically treated older adults with T2D show clear, typical mood and physiological responses to an acute psychosocial stressor. Finally, the lack of acute psychosocial stress effects on WM suggests that it could be related to aging and not to this disease, at least when T2D is adequately treated.
RCT Entities:
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been considered a public health threat due to its growing prevalence, particularly in the older population. It is important to know the effects of pan class="Disease">psychosocial stress and its potential consequences for some basic cognitive processes that are important in daily life. Currently, there is very little information about how people with T2D face acute psychosocial stressors, and even less about how their response affects working memory (WM), which is essential for their functionality and independence. Our aim was to characterize the response to an acute laboratory psychosocial stressor and its effects on WM in older people with T2D. Fifty participants with T2D from 52 to 77 years old were randomly assigned to a stress (12 men and 12 women) or control (12 men and 14 women) condition. Mood and physiological (cortisol, C, and salivary alpha-amylase, sAA) responses to tasks were measured. In addition, participants completed a WM test before and after the stress or control task. Our results showed that the TSST elicited higher negative affect and greater C and sAA responses than the control task. No significant differences in WM were observed depending on the exposure to stress or the control task. Finally, participants who showed higher C and sAA responses to the stressor had lower WM performance. Our results indicate that medically treated older adults with T2D show clear, typical mood and physiological responses to an acute psychosocial stressor. Finally, the lack of acute psychosocial stress effects on WM suggests that it could be related to aging and not to this disease, at least when T2D is adequately treated.