Social support, neurocognition, and posttraumatic stress disorder: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

ABSTRACT

Objective

Most research investigating neurocognitive changes in participants with PTSD has focused on young adults. Numerous studies have recognized the crucial role of social support in diminishing the likelihood of developing PTSD. The current study evaluates the cognitive performance of middle-aged and older adults with symptoms of PTSD, and examines if perceived social support can act as a cognitive reserve factor.

Method

The study was conducted using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a nationwide study on health and aging. The current study included 1,096 participants in the PTSD group and 22,158 participants in the comparison group, all between the ages of 45 and 85. Participants completed the MOS (Medical Outcomes Study) Social Support Survey as well as neuropsychological tests in the domains of executive functioning, declarative memory, and prospective memory.

Results

The PTSD group had worse performance in the domains of executive functioning and prospective memory than the comparison group. Furthermore, when examining global cognitive impairments (impairment was defined as scoring 1.5 or more standard deviations below age and education adjusted comparison group), the PTSD group demonstrated greater impairment rates than the comparison group on two or more tests. Moderation analyses revealed that greater social support was associated with better executive functioning for the comparison group, although this was not found to be true for the PTSD group.

Conclusion

The PTSD group experienced greater cognitive deficits compared to the comparison group. Higher levels of perceived social support were associated with better performance on neurocognitive measures for the comparison group. However, social support did not appear to moderate this relationship for the PTSD group.

KEYWORDS:

• Posttraumatic stress disorder
• neurocognition
• social support
• cognitive reserve
• CLSA

Acknowledgments

This research was made possible using the data/biospecimens collected by the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Funding for the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is provided by the Government of Canada through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) under grant reference: LSA 94473 and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This research has been conducted using the CLSA Baseline Comprehensive Dataset 3.1, under Application Number 161009. The CLSA is led by Drs. Parminder Raina, Christina Wolfson and Susan Kirkland. VR is funded by the Dr. Mark Zamorski Award. MB is a Vanier Scholar, funded by the CIHR.

Data availability statement

Data are available from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (www.clsa-elcv.ca) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to de-identified CLSA data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Vanier; Dr. Mark Zamorski Award