Association Between Psychosocial Stress and Brain Aging: Results of the Population-Based Cohort Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP)

Recent studies suggest that psychosocial factors can have an impact on brain health. Yet, it is unclear whether psychosocial stress affects aging of the brain. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between psychosocial stress and brain aging.

Data from the German population-based cohort Study of Health in Pomerania (N=991; age range 20–78 years) were used to calculate a total psychosocial stress score by combining subscores from five domains: stress related to the living situation, the occupational situation, the social situation, danger experiences, and emotions. Associations with brain aging, indicated by an MRI-derived score quantifying age-related brain atrophy, were estimated by using regression models adjusted for age, gender, education, diabetes, problematic alcohol consumption, smoking, and hypertension.

The relative risk ratio for advanced brain aging was 1.21 (95% CI=1.04–1.41) for stress related to emotions in fully adjusted models. The interactions between stress related to emotions and mental health symptoms were also significantly associated with advanced brain aging. The association between higher total psychosocial stress and brain aging was not statistically significant.

These findings highlight that high stress related to emotions is associated with advanced brain aging. To protect brain health in older age, more research is needed to explore the role of emotional distress.