Rebecca B Lawn1, Shaili C Jha1, Jiaxuan Liu1, Laura Sampson1, Audrey R Murchland1, Jennifer A Sumner2, Andrea L Roberts3, Seth G Disner4,5, Francine Grodstein6, Jae H Kang7, Laura D Kubzansky8, Lori B Chibnik1,9, Karestan C Koenen1,8,10. 1. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 2. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA. 3. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 4. Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. 5. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. 6. Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA. 7. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 8. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 9. Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 10. Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental \Genetics Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite evidence linking posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and head injury, separately, with worse cognitive performance, investigations of their combined effects on cognition are limited in civilian women. METHODS: The Cogstate Brief Battery assessment was administered in 10,681 women from the Nurses' Health Study II cohort, mean age 64.9 years (SD = 4.6). Psychological trauma, PTSD, depression, and head injury were assessed using online questionnaires. In this cross-sectional analysis, we used linear regression models to estimate mean differences in cognition by PTSD/depression status and stratified by history of head injury. RESULTS: History of head injury was prevalent (36%), and significantly more prevalent among women with PTSD and depression (57% of women with PTSD and depression, 21% of women with no psychological trauma or depression). Compared to having no psychological trauma or depression, having combined PTSD and depression was associated with worse performance on psychomotor speed/attention ( β = -.15, p = .001) and learning/working memory ( β = -.15, p < .001). The joint association of PTSD and depression on worse cognitive function was strongest among women with past head injury, particularly among those with multiple head injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Head injury, like PTSD and depression, was highly prevalent in this sample of civilian women. In combination, these factors were associated with poorer performance on cognitive tasks, a possible marker of future cognitive health. Head injury should be further explored in future studies of PTSD, depression and cognition in women.
BACKGROUND: Despite evidence linking posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and head injury, separately, with worse cognitive performance, investigations of their combined effects on cognition are limited in civilian women. METHODS: The Cogstate Brief Battery assessment was administered in 10,681 women from the Nurses' Health Study II cohort, mean age 64.9 years (SD = 4.6). Psychological trauma, PTSD, depression, and head injury were assessed using online questionnaires. In this cross-sectional analysis, we used linear regression models to estimate mean differences in cognition by PTSD/depression status and stratified by history of head injury. RESULTS: History of head injury was prevalent (36%), and significantly more prevalent among women with PTSD and depression (57% of women with PTSD and depression, 21% of women with no psychological trauma or depression). Compared to having no psychological trauma or depression, having combined PTSD and depression was associated with worse performance on psychomotor speed/attention ( β = -.15, p = .001) and learning/working memory ( β = -.15, p < .001). The joint association of PTSD and depression on worse cognitive function was strongest among women with past head injury, particularly among those with multiple head injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Head injury, like PTSD and depression, was highly prevalent in this sample of civilian women. In combination, these factors were associated with poorer performance on cognitive tasks, a possible marker of future cognitive health. Head injury should be further explored in future studies of PTSD, depression and cognition in women.
Authors: Pierre Langevin; Pierre FrÉmont; Philippe Fait; Marc-Olivier DubÉ; MichaËl Bertrand-Charette; Jean-Sébastien Roy Journal: Med Sci Sports Exerc Date: 2020-12 Impact factor: 5.411
Authors: Laura Sampson; Shaili C Jha; Andrea L Roberts; Rebecca B Lawn; Kristen M Nishimi; Andrew Ratanatharathorn; Jennifer A Sumner; Jae H Kang; Laura D Kubzansky; Eric B Rimm; Karestan C Koenen Journal: Am J Geriatr Psychiatry Date: 2021-11-12 Impact factor: 4.105