The Moderating Role of Sleep Quality on the Association between Neuroticism and Frontal Executive Function in Older Adults

ABSTRACT

Objective/Background

Personality traits are regarded as risk factors for cognitive impairment in older adults, while sleep disturbance and physical inactivity are also considered as modifiable risk factors. Therefore, it could be beneficial to investigate the effects of those modifiable risk factors on the relationship between personality traits and cognitive functions, to prepare appropriate strategies for mitigating cognitive impairment.

Participants

A total of 155 cognitively unimpaired older adults were included.

Methods

All participants underwent cognitive function tests using the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery and examinations for personality traits using the Big Five Inventory. Individual physical activity and sleep quality were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively. A hierarchical linear multiple regression analysis was performed to demonstrate the direct association between personality traits and cognitive functions, and the multiple moderator analysis was used to analyze the moderating effects of lifestyle factors on this association.

Results

Among the five personality traits, only neuroticism was negatively associated with the frontal executive and visuospatial functions after controlling age, sex, and years of education. Interestingly, the negative relationship between neuroticism and frontal executive function was alleviated in older adults with higher sleep quality.

Conclusions

Our findings demonstrated that higher sleep quality has significant moderating effects on the negative association between neuroticism and frontal executive functions in older adults, which suggests intervention for improving sleep quality such as cognitive behavioral therapy can be considered in older adults who have personality traits associated with a high risk of cognitive impairment.

KEYWORDS:

• neuroticism
• frontal executive function
• sleep quality
• cognitive function

Description of authors’ roles

BR. Kim and R. Lee were responsible for the conception and design, data analysis, and interpretation of the study, and for writing the manuscript. N. Kim was involved in the collection and assembly of data. JH. Jeong conducted the data analysis and interpretation. GH. Kim was in charge of the conception and design, administrative support, writing the manuscript, and the final approval of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the grant funded by a Korean society of geriatric neurology, by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grants funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (NRF-2020M3C1B6112160), by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2020R1I1A1A01072283) and by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare and Ministry of science and ICT, Republic of Korea (HU20C0271).