Effect of cortisol levels on working memory performance in elderly subjects with Alzheimer's disease

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria

Juliana Nery De Souza-talarico²  Paulo Caramelli¹  Ricardo Nitrini¹  Eliane Corrêa Chaves² 

[1] ,University of São Paulo School of Nursing Department of Medical-Surgical NursingSão Paulo SP ,Brazil

关键词: cortisol levels;    working memory;    Alzheimer disease;    aged;    níveis de cortisol;    memória operacional;    doença de Alzheimer;    idoso;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0004-282X2008000500003

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

BACKGROUND: Subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have elevated cortisol levels as a result of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction. Acute administration of hydrocortisone has been associated with working memory (WM) performance in young adults. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether cortisol levels are associated with WM performance in subjects with AD. METHOD: Eighty subjects were included, comprising 40 patients with mild AD and 40 healthy elderly controls. WM was assessed using the Digit Span Backward test (DSB). Saliva samples were collected to determine cortisol levels. RESULTS: AD subjects had poorer performance on the DSB than controls (p=0.002) and also presented higher levels of cortisol than control group (p=0.04). No significant correlation was observed between the DSB and cortisol levels in both groups (r= -0.29). CONCLUSION: In this study, elevated cortisol levels were not associated with poorer WM performance in patients with AD or in healthy elderly subjects.

【 授权许可】

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