Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T09:21:48.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Acute Cortisol Levels and Memory Performance in Older People with High and Normal Body Mass Index

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2019

Matias M. Pulopulos ,
Sara Puig-Perez Open the ORCID record for Sara Puig-Perez [Opens in a new window] ,
Vanesa Hidalgo ,
Teresa Montoliu  and
Alicia Salvador
Matias M. Pulopulos*
Affiliation:
Universiteit Gent (Belgium)
Sara Puig-Perez
Affiliation:
Universidad Internacional de Valencia (Spain)
Vanesa Hidalgo
Affiliation:
Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain)
Teresa Montoliu
Affiliation:
Universitat de València (Spain)
Alicia Salvador
Affiliation:
Universitat de València (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Matias Pulopulos. Universiteit Gent. Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology. Henri Dunantlaan, 2. 9000 Gent (Belgium). E-mail: [email protected] Phone: +32–092646472.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that healthy older adults may be less sensitive to the effects of acute cortisol levels on memory performance than young adults. Importantly, being overweight has recently been associated with an increase in both cortisol concentration and cortisol receptors in central tissues, suggesting that Body Mass Index (BMI) may contribute to differences in the relationship between memory and acute cortisol. This study investigates the role of BMI in the relationship between memory performance and acute cortisol levels in older people (M = 64.70 years; SD = 4.24). We measured cortisol levels and memory performance (working memory and declarative memory) in 33 participants with normal BMI (normal BMI = 18.50–24.99) and 36 participants with overweight BMI (overweight BMI = 25–29.99). Overweight BMI participants showed worse performance on word-list learning (p = .036, 95% CI [0.08, 2.18], η2p = 0.07). Higher cortisol levels were related to higher proactive interference (β = .364, p = .016, 95% CI [0.07, 0.66]), and BMI did not moderate any of the relationships investigated. In accordance with previous studies, our results show worse memory performance in individuals with overweight BMI. However, our results do not support the idea that memory performance in older people with higher BMI may be more sensitive to differences in acute cortisol levels than in older people with normal BMI. More research is needed to test this hypothesis with obese individuals (BMI > 30 Kg/cm2).

Keywords

body mass indexcortisolmemoryolder peopleoverweight
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 22 , 2019 , E41
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We are grateful to Marta García Lluch, Dr. Carolina Villada, Dr. Mercedes Almela and Dr. Eva Lira for their support in the research process, and Ms. Cindy DePoy for the revision of the English text. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (grants PSI2013/46889, FPU AP2010-1830 to M.M.P., FPI/BES-2008-004224 to V.H. and FPU12/04597 to S.P-P.), Generalitat Valenciana (grants PROMETEOII2015-20 and ISIC/2013/01), Universitat de València (grant UV-INV-PREDOC16F1-383576 to T.M.), Ghent University (Grant BOF 01P18916 to M.M.P), and Government of Aragón, Department of Innovation, Research and University and FEDER “Construyendo desde Aragón”.

How to cite this article:

Pulopulos, M.M, Puig-Perez, S., Hidalgo, V., Montoliu, T., & Salvador, A. (2019). Acute cortisol levels and memory performance in older people with high and normal body mass index. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 22. e41. Doi:10.1017/sjp.2019.44

References

Ackermann, S., Hartmann, F., Papassotiropoulos, A., de Quervain, D. J. F., & Rasch, B. (2013). Associations between basal cortisol levels and memory retrieval in healthy young individuals. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(11), 1896–1907. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00440CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adler, N. E., Epel, E. S., Castellazzo, G., & Ickovics, J. R. (2000). Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy, white women. Health Psychology, 19(6), 586–592. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.19.6.586CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benito-León, J., Mitchell, A. J., Hernández-Gallego, J., & Bermejo-Pareja, F. (2013). Obesity and impaired cognitive functioning in the elderly: A population-based cross-sectional study (NEDICES). European Journal of Neurology, 20(6), 899–906. https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.12083CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bose, M., Oliván, B., & Laferrère, B. (2009). Stress and obesity: The role of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis in metabolic disease. Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity, 16(5), 340–346. https://doi.org/10.1097/med.0b013e32832fa137CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buechel, H. M., Popovic, J., Staggs, K., Anderson, K. L., Thibault, O., & Blalock, E. M. (2014). Aged rats are hypo-responsive to acute restraint: Implications for psychosocial stress in aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 6, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2014.00013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, J. S. Y., Yan, J. H., & Payne, V. G. (2013). The impact of obesity and exercise on cognitive aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 5, article 97. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2013.00097CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Kloet, E. R., Oitzl, M. S., & Joëls, M. (1999). Stress and cognition: Are corticosteroids good or bad guys? Trends in Neurosciences, 22(10), 422–426. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0166-2236(99)01438-1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dettenborn, L., Tietze, A., Kirschbaum, C., & Stalder, T. (2012). The assessment of cortisol in human hair: Associations with sociodemographic variables and potential confounders. Stress, 15(6), 578–588. https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2012.654479CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giordano, R., Bo, M., Pellegrino, M., Vezzari, M., Baldi, M., Picu, A., … Arvat, E. (2005). Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal hyperactivity in human aging is partially refractory to stimulation by mineralocorticoid receptor blockade. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 90(10), 5656–5662. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2005-0105CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunstad, J., Lhotsky, A., Wendell, C. R., Ferrucci, L., & Zonderman, A. B. (2010). Longitudinal examination of obesity and cognitive function: Results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Neuroepidemiology, 34(4), 222–229. https://doi.org/10.1159/000297742CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hidalgo, V., Pulopulos, M. M., Puig-Perez, S., Espin, L., Gomez-Amor, J., & Salvador, A. (2015). Acute stress affects free recall and recognition of pictures differently depending on age and sex. Behavioural Brain Research, 292, 393–402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pulopulos, M. M., & Salvador, V., Pulopulos, M. M., & Salvador, A. (2019). Acute psychosocial stress effects on memory performance: Relevance of age and sex. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 157, 48–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2018.11.013Google Scholar
Lasikiewicz, N., Hendrickx, H., Talbot, D., & Dye, L. (2013). Exploring stress-induced cognitive impairment in middle aged, centrally obese adults. Stress, 16(1), 44–53. https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2012.682109CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, B. K., Glass, T. A., Wand, G. S., Mcatee, M. J., Bandeen-Roche, K., Bolla, K. I., & Schwartz, B. S. (2008). Apolipoprotein E genotype, cortisol, and cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(11), 1456–1464. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.07091532CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lobo, A., Saz, P., Marcos, G., Día, J. L., De La Cámara, C., Ventura, T., … Aznar, S. (1999). [Revalidation and standardization of the cognition mini-exam (first Spanish version of the Mini-Mental Status Examination) in the general geriatric population]. Medicina Clínica, 112(20), 767–774.Google Scholar
Montoliu, T., Hidalgo, V., Pulopulos, M. M., Ivorra, J. L., Martínez, M. J., & Salvador, A. (2018). The relationship between cortisol and cognitive function in healthy older people: The moderating role of Apolipoprotein E polymorphism. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 155, 297–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2018.08.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nguyen, N. T., Magno, C. P., Lane, K. T., Hinojosa, M. W., & Lane, J. S. (2008). Association of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome with obesity: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999 to 2004. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 207(6), 928–934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2008.08.022CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nyberg, L., Lövdén, M., Riklund, K., Lindenberger, U., & Bäckman, L. (2012). Memory aging and brain maintenance. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(5), 292–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porter, R. J., Barnett, N. A., Idey, A., Mcguckin, E. A., & O’brien, J. T. (2002). Effects of hydrocortisone administration on cognitive function in the elderly. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 16(1), 65–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/026988110201600106CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preuß, D., Schoofs, D., & Wolf, O. T. (2009). Associations between endogenous cortisol levels and emotional memory in young women: Influence of encoding instructions. Stress, 12(5), 379–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253890802524592CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pulopulos, M. M., Almela, M., Hidalgo, V., Villada, C., Puig-Perez, S., & Salvador, A. (2013). Acute stress does not impair long-term memory retrieval in older people. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 104, 16–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2013.04.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pulopulos, M. M., Hidalgo, V., Almela, M., Puig-Perez, S., Villada, C., & Salvador, A. (2014). Hair cortisol and cognitive performance in healthy older people. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 44, 100–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.03.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pulopulos, M. M., Hidalgo, V., Almela, M., Puig-Perez, S., Villada, C., & Salvador, A. (2015). Acute stress and working memory in older people. Stress, 18(2), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2015.1004538CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pulopulos, M. M., Hidalgo, V., Puig-Perez, S., & Salvador, A. (2016). Cortisol awakening response and cognitive performance in hypertensive and normotensive older people. Hormones and Behavior, 83, 75–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.05.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Putman, P., van Honk, J., Kessels, R. P., Mulder, M., & Koppeschaar, H. P. (2004). Salivary cortisol and short and long-term memory for emotional faces in healthy young women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29(7), 953–960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2003.09.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rey, A. (1958). L’examen clinique en psychologie [The clinical exam in psychology]. Paris, France: Presse Universitaire de France.Google Scholar
Rönnlund, M., Nyberg, L., Bäckman, L., & Nilsson, L.-G. (2005). Stability, growth, and decline in adult life span development of declarative memory: Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a population-based study. Psychology and Aging, 20(1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.20.1.3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rotenstein, L. S., Sheridan, M., Garg, R., & Adler, G. K. (2015). Effect of mineralocorticoid receptor blockade on hippocampal-dependent memory in adults with obesity. Obesity, 23(6), 1136–1142. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.21104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sakata, A., Mogi, M., Iwanami, J., Tsukuda, K., Min, L. J, Jing, F., … Horiuchi, M. (2012). Improvement of cognitive impairment in female type 2 diabetes mellitus mice by spironolactone. Journal of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System, 13(1), 84–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470320311412810CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sapolsky, R. M., Romero, L. M., & Munck, A. U. (2001). How do glucocorticoids influence stress responses? Integrating permissive, suppressive, stimulatory, and preparative actions. Endocrine Reviews, 21, 55–89. https://doi.org/10.1210/edrv.21.1.0389Google Scholar
Spauwen, P. J., Köhler, S., Verhey, F. R., Stehouwer, C. D., & van Boxtel, M. P. (2013). Effects of Type 2 Diabetes on 12-year cognitive change: Results from the Maastricht Aging Study. Diabetes Care, 36(6), 1554–1561. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc12-0746CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Honk, J., Kessels, R. P., Putman, P., Jager, G., Koppeschaar, H. P., & Postma, A. (2003). Attentionally modulated effects of cortisol and mood on memory for emotional faces in healthy young males. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 28(7), 941–948. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0306-4530(02)00116-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (1997). The Wechsler Memory Scale (3rd Ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Wolf, O. T., Convit, A., Mchugh, P. F., Kandil, E., Thorn, E. L., De Santi, S., … de Leon, M. J. (2001). Cortisol differentially affects memory in young and elderly men. Behavioral Neuroscience, 115(5), 1002–1011. https://doi.org/10.1037//0735-7044.115.5.1002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, O. T. (2006). Effects of stress hormones on the structure and function of the human brain. Expert Review of Endocrinology & Metabolism, 1(5), 623–632. https://doi.org/10.1586/17446651.1.5.623CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (2000). Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2018) Obesity and overweight. Retrieved from World Health Organization website. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweightGoogle Scholar
Wright, C. E., & Steptoe, A. (2005). Subjective socioeconomic position, gender and cortisol responses to waking in an elderly population. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 30(6), 582–590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.01.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yehuda, R., Harvey, P. D., Buchsbaum, M., Tischler, L., & Schmeidler, J. (2007). Enhanced effects of cortisol administration on episodic and working memory in aging veterans with PTSD. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32(12), 2581–2591. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1301380CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed