TY - JOUR
T1 - Cytomegalovirus and Toxoplasma Gondii Serostatus Prospectively Correlated With Problems in Self-Regulation but not Executive Function Among Older Adults
AU - Segerstrom, Suzanne C.
AU - Reed, Rebecca G.
AU - Karr, Justin E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - Objective Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Toxoplasma gondii are organisms that may infect the brain and have cognitive and behavioral consequences. We hypothesized that these latent infections would be prospectively associated with poorer cognition and more problems in self-regulation among older adults. Methods Older adults (n = 138, mean age = 75.5 years, 59% women) had CMV and T. gondii serostatus tested, crystallized intelligence estimated (North American Adult Reading Test), and executive function (EF; e.g., Trail Making Test) and self-regulation (Behavior Regulation Inventory of Executive Function-Adult) assessed in visits occurring every 6 months (mean visits = 16). Results CMV+ people (79%) had significantly poorer self-regulation versus CMV-people (21%; behavioral regulation: γ = 0.108, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.009-0.206; metacognition: γ = 0.117, 95% CI = 0.005-0.229), but not intelligence or EF. T. gondii+ people (24%) were not significantly different from T. gondii-people (76%) on any outcome. However, T. gondii+ men had better self-regulation versus T. gondii-men, and the opposite was true of women (behavioral regulation interaction: γ = 0.267, 95% CI = 0.093-0.441). Conclusions CMV latent infection was associated with more problems in self-regulation, and the magnitude of this difference was clinically significant. T. gondii latent infection was associated with more problems, but only for women. Latent infection might associate with self-regulation but not EF because of factors influencing self-regulation but not neuropsychological test performance, such as values and emotion. Efforts to link latent infection with EFs might, in the future, include the application of those functions to self-regulation in daily life.
AB - Objective Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Toxoplasma gondii are organisms that may infect the brain and have cognitive and behavioral consequences. We hypothesized that these latent infections would be prospectively associated with poorer cognition and more problems in self-regulation among older adults. Methods Older adults (n = 138, mean age = 75.5 years, 59% women) had CMV and T. gondii serostatus tested, crystallized intelligence estimated (North American Adult Reading Test), and executive function (EF; e.g., Trail Making Test) and self-regulation (Behavior Regulation Inventory of Executive Function-Adult) assessed in visits occurring every 6 months (mean visits = 16). Results CMV+ people (79%) had significantly poorer self-regulation versus CMV-people (21%; behavioral regulation: γ = 0.108, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.009-0.206; metacognition: γ = 0.117, 95% CI = 0.005-0.229), but not intelligence or EF. T. gondii+ people (24%) were not significantly different from T. gondii-people (76%) on any outcome. However, T. gondii+ men had better self-regulation versus T. gondii-men, and the opposite was true of women (behavioral regulation interaction: γ = 0.267, 95% CI = 0.093-0.441). Conclusions CMV latent infection was associated with more problems in self-regulation, and the magnitude of this difference was clinically significant. T. gondii latent infection was associated with more problems, but only for women. Latent infection might associate with self-regulation but not EF because of factors influencing self-regulation but not neuropsychological test performance, such as values and emotion. Efforts to link latent infection with EFs might, in the future, include the application of those functions to self-regulation in daily life.
KW - Aging
KW - Cognition
KW - Infection
KW - Latent virus
KW - Self-regulation
KW - Toxoplasmosis
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U2 - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001086
DO - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001086
M3 - Article
C2 - 35420585
AN - SCOPUS:85131270832
SN - 0033-3174
VL - 84
SP - 603
EP - 611
JO - Psychosomatic Medicine
JF - Psychosomatic Medicine
IS - 5
ER -