Knowing your Alzheimer’s risk may ease anxiety but reduce motivation for healthy habits

Learning about one’s risk for Alzheimer’s disease may not lead to emotional distress, but motivation to maintain healthy lifestyle changes tends to fade over time, even in people at high risk, according to a study involving a Rutgers Health researcher.

The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, was written by Sapir Golan Shekhtman, a doctoral degree student at the Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Center at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and led by Orit Lesman-Segev, a neuroradiologist at the Department of Diagnostic Imaging and researcher at the Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Center, Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and co-authored by Michal Schnaider Beeri, director of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute.

A protein called amyloid beta in the brain is one of the core pathologies in Alzheimer’s disease. The buildup of amyloid plaques can be detected decades before symptoms appear. These plaques can be visualized and quantified by a positron emission tomography (PET) scan.

The researchers wanted to understand how people react emotionally to learning whether they have risk for cognitive decline. 

The study followed 199 healthy adults who underwent amyloid PET scans to check their amyloid beta status. Before the scan, participants completed surveys measuring anxiety, depression, memory concerns and motivation for lifestyle adjustments. They conducted the same surveys six months after learning their results.

Results from the study show that participants who don’t have amyloid buildup experienced significant emotional improvements: They reported much lower levels of depression, anxiety and memory complaints.

However, their motivation to maintain lifestyle improvements also declined.

Conversely, participants with amyloid presence didn’t show increased depression or memory complaints but did experience a decrease in anxiety and motivation for lifestyle adjustments.

“The findings suggest that disclosing amyloid presence does not negatively affect participants, and simply knowing the results seems to decrease negative feelings overall,” said Schnaider Beeri.

This study provides new insight into how individuals emotionally respond to learning their amyloid status, an underexplored topic, the researchers said. It also involves disclosing amyloid status to cognitively healthy individuals, a practice that wasn’t common in previous studies. The researchers added the study emphasizes individual differences in responses to disclosure, promoting a more personalized disclosure process.

“The results highlight how easily people lose motivation to make lifestyle changes aimed at maintaining cognitive health,” said Shekhtman. “Strategies to sustain these healthy behaviors are crucial.”

“These findings hold even greater significance in an era moving toward preventive Alzheimer’s Disease therapies,” said Lesman-Segev. “When such treatments become available, cognitively normal individuals will likely undergo screening with Alzheimer’s biomarkers to qualify for targeted therapies. Therefore, it is essential to better understand the response to disclosure and optimize the disclosure process.”

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