Chandra Avinash, Anjum Rifah, Waters Sheena, Proitsi Petroula, Smith Laura J, Marshall Charles R
Centre for Preventive Neurology, Wolfson Institute of Population Health Queen Mary University of London London UK.
Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2024 Oct 29;16(4):e70032. doi: 10.1002/dad2.70032. eCollection 2024 Oct-Dec.
Widowhood and divorce are extremely stressful life events that are associated with dementia, but the neurobiological underpinnings of this risk remain unknown. Amyloid beta (Aβ) load may explain influences of chronic stress, commonly seen in disruptive marital transitions, on cognitive decline.
We examined whether Aβ quantified by tracer uptake on positron emission tomography mediates associations between marital dissolution and executive functioning and episodic memory performance using data from 543 cognitively normal (CN) participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.
Marriage dissolution was associated with increased Aβ burden ( = 0.56; = 0.015) and worse memory performance ( = -0.09; = 0.003). Aβ levels were a significant mediator for the relationship between marriage dissolution and memory (average causal mediation effect = -0.007; = 0.029).
Findings suggest that stressful life events, such as the dissolution of one's marriage, might exert an effect on Alzheimer's disease proteinopathy, which may subsequently influence poor cognition. Marital dissolution was associated with increased amyloid beta (Aβ) and memory declines.Aβ burden mediated associations between marital dissolution and memory.Findings were robust to potential non-linear influences of age.Mediation results were not observed when stratifying marital groups by sex.
丧偶和离婚是与痴呆症相关的极具压力的生活事件，但其风险的神经生物学基础尚不清楚。β淀粉样蛋白（Aβ）负荷可能解释了慢性应激（常见于破坏性婚姻转变中）对认知衰退的影响。
我们使用来自阿尔茨海默病神经影像倡议的543名认知正常（CN）参与者的数据，研究正电子发射断层扫描上通过示踪剂摄取量化的Aβ是否介导婚姻解体与执行功能和情景记忆表现之间的关联。
婚姻解体与Aβ负担增加（β = 0.56；P = 0.015）和记忆表现较差（β = -0.09；P = 0.003）相关。Aβ水平是婚姻解体与记忆之间关系的显著中介因素（平均因果中介效应 = -0.007；P = 0.029）。
研究结果表明，诸如婚姻解体等压力性生活事件可能对阿尔茨海默病蛋白病变产生影响，这可能随后影响认知能力下降。婚姻解体与β淀粉样蛋白（Aβ）增加和记忆衰退相关。Aβ负担介导了婚姻解体与记忆之间的关联。研究结果对年龄的潜在非线性影响具有稳健性。按性别对婚姻组进行分层时未观察到中介结果。
