Family history of Alzheimer’s disease and psychological distress in adulthood : Findings from a 9-year longitudinal follow-up study

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease hypothesized to begin up to 30 years before visible symptoms arise, with genetic and environmental risk factors influencing its onset. Research suggests that psychological distress, i.e. depressive and anxiety symptoms, is associated with an increased risk of a consequent AD, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. It is not conclusively known whether a family history of AD would link to experienced psychological distress, providing evidence of common predisposing factors for both psychological distress symptoms and AD. By using longitudinal data gathered in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, this study investigates whether individuals with a family history (FH) of AD (n= 402) experience greater psychological distress across adulthood than people without a FH of AD (n= 973). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and anxiety symptoms via the SCL-90 anxiety subscale over a 9-year period. Linear mixed models were used to assess the association between FH of AD and symptom scores, while adjusting for relevant covariates such as biological sex, education level, body mass index, smoking status and age. Analyses found that FH of AD was not significantly associated with depressive or anxiety symptoms over time. The findings suggest that in this sample, FH of AD does not predict subclinical psychological distress in adulthood, though further research is needed to explore potential interactions with genetic factors such as ApoE ε4 status. These results can help guide future research efforts focusing on the complex relationships between mood and memory disorders for early detection and prevention strategies.