Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology,Faculty of Medicine,University of Freiburg,Freiburg,Germany.
Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy,Medical Center, University of Freiburg,Freiburg,Germany.
Psychol Med. 2018 Jan;48(1):168-174. doi: 10.1017/S0033291717002562. Epub 2017 Sep 6.
Major depression and anxiety disorders are known to negatively influence cognitive performance. Moreover, there is evidence for greater cognitive decline in older adults with generalized anxiety disorder. Except for clinical studies, complex executive planning functions and subclinical levels of anxiety have not been examined in a population-based sample with a broad age range.
Planning performance was assessed using the Tower of London task in a population-based sample of 4240 participants aged 40-80 years from the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) and related to self-reported anxiety and depression by means of multiple linear regression analysis.
Higher anxiety ratings were associated with lower planning performance (β = -0.20; p < 0.0001) independent of age (β = 0.03; p = 0.47). When directly comparing the predictive value of depression and anxiety on cognition, only anxiety attained significance (β = -0.19; p = 0.0047), whereas depression did not (β = -0.01; p = 0.71).
Subclinical levels of anxiety but not of depression showed negative associations with cognitive functioning independent of age. Our results demonstrate that associations observed in clinical groups might differ from those in population-based samples, also with regard to the trajectory across the life span. Further studies are needed to uncover causal interrelations of anxiety and cognition, which have been proposed in the literature, in order to develop interventions aimed at reducing this negative affective state and to improve executive functioning.
重度抑郁和焦虑障碍已知会对认知表现产生负面影响。此外，有证据表明，广泛性焦虑症患者的认知衰退程度更大。除了临床研究外，在具有广泛年龄范围的基于人群的样本中，尚未检查复杂的执行计划功能和亚临床焦虑水平。
在来自哥廷根健康研究（GHS）的 4240 名 40-80 岁的基于人群的样本中，使用伦敦塔任务评估计划表现，并通过多元线性回归分析将其与自我报告的焦虑和抑郁相关联。
较高的焦虑评分与较低的计划表现相关（β = -0.20；p <0.0001），而与年龄无关（β = 0.03；p = 0.47）。当直接比较抑郁和焦虑对认知的预测值时，只有焦虑具有显著意义（β = -0.19；p = 0.0047），而抑郁则没有（β = -0.01；p = 0.71）。
亚临床焦虑水平与认知功能呈负相关，但与年龄无关，而抑郁则没有。我们的结果表明，在临床人群中观察到的关联可能与基于人群的样本中的关联不同，也与整个生命历程中的轨迹不同。需要进一步研究以揭示文献中提出的焦虑和认知之间的因果关系，以便开发旨在减轻这种消极情绪状态和改善执行功能的干预措施。
