Depression, Vascular Burden, and Dementia Prevalence in Late Middle-Aged and Older Black Adults.

OBJECTIVES: Late-life depression and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) have been linked to increased dementia risk. However, there is a dearth of literature examining these relationships in Black adults. We investigated whether depression or WMH volume are associated with a higher likelihood of dementia diagnosis in a sample of late middle-aged to older Black adults, and whether dementia prevalence is highest in individuals with both depression and higher WMH volume. METHODS: Secondary data analysis involved 443 Black participants aged 55+ with brain imaging within 1 year of baseline visit in the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set. Chi-square analyses and logistic regression models controlling for demographic variables examined whether active depression in the past 2 years, WMH volume, or their combination were associated with higher odds of all-cause dementia. RESULTS: Depression and higher WMH volume were associated with a higher prevalence of dementia. These associations remained after controlling for demographic factors, as well as vascular disease burden. Dementia risk was highest in the depression/high WMH volume group compared to the depression-only group, high WMH volume-only group, and the no depression/low WMH volume group. Post hoc analyses comparing the Black sample to a demographically matched non-Hispanic White sample showed associations of depression and the combination of depression and higher WMH burden with dementia were greater in Black compared to non-Hispanic White individuals. DISCUSSION: Results suggest late-life depression and WMH have independent and joint relationships with dementia and that Black individuals may be particularly at risk due to these factors.

Be well, sleep well: An examination of directionality between basic psychological needs and subjective sleep among emerging adults at university.

OBJECTIVES: The present study assessed bidirectional associations between basic psychological needs and several subjective sleep variables across 2 semesters. DESIGN: Participants completed an online survey twice (7 months apart) as part of a short-term longitudinal, correlational study. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 154 (67.8% female) emerging adults (mean age = 20.02 years, SD = 1.71) from a liberal arts university on the east coast. MEASUREMENTS: Survey assessed demographics, perceived fulfillment of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and several sleep variables (week and weekend sleep duration, sleep disturbances, daytime dysfunction, and sleep quality; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). RESULTS: Data were analyzed using an autoregressive cross-lagged model, which controlled for level of study, diagnosis of mental illness, self-esteem, social desirability, sleeping medication, chronotype, conscientiousness, and extraversion. Results indicated significant unidirectional associations: perceived fulfillment of basic psychological needs predicted longer week sleep duration (ß = .243, P = .008) and better perceived sleep quality (ß = -.223, P = .008) 1 semester later, and 1 significant bidirectional association, perceived fulfillment of basic psychological needs, predicted lower daytime dysfunction, and in turn, lower daytime dysfunction predicted higher perceived fulfillment of basic psychological needs 1 semester later. CONCLUSIONS: Although many sleep interventions focus on environmental aspects of sleep, our findings highlight the importance of nurturing university students' psychological needs as a potential point of intervention for improving some sleep characteristics among emerging adults at university.