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Are anxiety disorders associated with accelerated ageing and cognitive decline? A multicenter italian study in middle aged and older patients and controls

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

S. Daccò ,
D. Caldirola ,
A. Alciati ,
A. Fagiolini ,
P. Brambilla  and
G. Perna
S. Daccò*
Affiliation:
Department Of Clinical Neurosciences, Villa San Benedetto Menni Hospital, Hermanas Hospitalarias, Albese con Cassano, Italy Mental Health, Humanitas University, Rozzano, Italy
D. Caldirola
Affiliation:
Department Of Clinical Neurosciences, Villa San Benedetto Menni Hospital, Hermanas Hospitalarias, Albese con Cassano, Italy Mental Health, Humanitas University, Rozzano, Italy
A. Alciati
Affiliation:
Department Of Clinical Neurosciences, Villa San Benedetto Menni Hospital, Hermanas Hospitalarias, Albese con Cassano, Italy Ircc, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Milan, Italy
A. Fagiolini
Affiliation:
Department Of Molecular And Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
P. Brambilla
Affiliation:
Pathophysiology And Transplantation, university of Milan, Milano, Italy
G. Perna
Affiliation:
Department Of Clinical Neurosciences, Villa San Benedetto Menni Hospital, Hermanas Hospitalarias, Albese con Cassano, Italy Mental Health, Humanitas University, Rozzano, Italy
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Anxiety Disorders (AnxDs) are highly prevalent in middle-aged and older individuals and are putative factors that might interfere with normal aging, by affecting cognitive functioning and neuroprogression.

Objectives

This study aims to assess whether current AnxD in middle-aged and older subjects are associated with 1) lower neuropsychological performance, 2) shorter telomere length/lower plasmatic Amyloid-Beta, and 3) brain connectivity alterations, compared to subjects without lifetime psychiatric disorders (HCs).

Methods

This is an ongoing multicentric cross-sectional study. We collected preliminary data on neuropsychological performance through a standardized battery, in 60 outpatients with current AnxDs (DSM-5 criteria), 24 with psychopharmacological treatments (AnxDs+) and 36 without (AnxDs-), compared to 76 HCs, all aged 50-75 years. This study was supported by Fondazione Cariplo, grant n° 2014:0664.

Results

AnxDs- patients showed poorer performance in the language domain, namely in semantic fluency (p=0.04), compared to HCs. No other significant differences were found between groups. Within the patients’ group, we found that a greater burden of psychiatric disorders or medical diseases, current use of benzodiazepines, or unhealthy lifestyle had significant detrimental effects on cognition, whereas current use of antidepressants, pharmacological treatments for medical conditions, and higher levels of physical activity exhibited the opposite effects.

Conclusions

We found only limited difference in cognitive performance between patients and controls. However, our preliminary results show that multiple factors influence cognitive performance in individuals with AnxDs, making these aspect important to monitor in clinical practice. So far, our results are provisional and further analyses in the final sample may provide more reliable conclusions.

Keywords

anxiety disordersageingneuropsychological performanceCognitive decline
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S192
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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