Do personality traits modify susceptibility to amyloid load ?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Do personality traits modify susceptibility to amyloid load in patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and do they predict conversion from MCI to dementia?
IRAS ID
217121
Contact name
Harry Boothby
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 16 days
Research summary
Background
Evidence is accumulating that certain personality traits featuring sociability (Nicholas et al, 2009), a rich social network (Bennett et al, 2006) and increased “idea density” (Snowdon et al) palliate the effects of the accumulation of Alzheimer pathology (amyloid plaques and neuro fibrillary tangles). This effect may become more marked with increasing age (Savva et al, 2009). In the clinical setting, an increasing number of patients are referred with mild cognitive impairments and one of the most vexing questions for clinicians, sufferers and their family is what the prognosis is for these patients. Up to half of patients with MCI do not progress to dementia but at present there are no reliable means of distinguishing those that do from those that do not.
Research Question
It is now well recognised that some people with heavy amyloid loads detected on amyloid PET scans do not suffer from any cognitive impairment, while others with no detectable amyloid on these scans suffer significant cognitive impairment. As populations age into their late 80s and 90s, such outliers become more and more frequent until the ability to distinguish between those with and without dementia by means purely of brain pathology disappears (Savva et al, 2009).
The objective of this study is twofold:
- The primary outcome is to examine whether by combining biometrics (amyloid PET/CT brain scanning) with psychometrics (personality trait assessment), such outliers can be explained in terms of whether personality traits modify susceptibility to pathology measured in amyloid load;
- a secondary outcome would be to follow up patients recruited into the study at yearly intervals for three years thereafter to examine whether personality traits are of prognostic significance
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0630
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion