The cognitive profile of middle-aged and older adults with high vs. low autistic traits

TY - JOUR

T1 - The cognitive profile of middle-aged and older adults with high vs. low autistic traits

AU - Stewart, Gavin R.

AU - Corbett, Anne

AU - Ballard, Clive

AU - Creese, Byron

AU - Aarsland, Dag

AU - Hampshire, Adam

AU - Brooker, Helen

AU - Charlton, Rebecca A.

AU - Happé, Francesca

N1 - Funding Information: This paper represents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London; Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London; National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula; National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Exeter Clinical Research Facility; Economic and Social Research Council via the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership. The funders have had no role in the data collection, analysis, interpretation, or any other aspect pertinent to the study. The authors have not been paid to write this article by any agency. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health, or the ESRC. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - Cognitive differences in memory, information processing speed (IPS), and executive functions (EF), are common in autistic and high autistic trait populations. Despite memory, IPS and EF being sensitive to age-related change, little is known about the cognitive profile of older adults with high autistic traits. This study explores cross-sectional memory, IPS and EF task performance in a large sample of older adults in the online PROTECT cohort (n = 22,285, aged 50-80 years), grouped by high vs. low autistic traits. Approximately 1% of PROTECT participants (n = 325) endorsed high autistic traits [henceforth Autism Spectrum Trait (AST) group]. Differences between AST and age-, gender-, and education-matched comparison older adults (COA; n = 11,744) were explored on memory, IPS and EF tasks and questionnaires administered online. AST had lower performance than COA on tasks measuring memory, working memory, sustained attention, and information processing. No group differences were observed in simple attention or verbal reasoning. A similar pattern of results was observed when controlling for age, and current depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, AST self-reported more cognitive decline than COA, but this difference was not significant when controlling for current depression symptoms, or when using informant-report. These findings suggest that autistic traits are associated with cognitive function in middle-aged and later life. Older adults with high autistic traits experienced more performance difficulties in a range of memory, IPS and EF tasks compared with the low autistic traits comparison group. Further longitudinal work is needed to examine age-related change in both older autistic and autistic trait populations.

AB - Cognitive differences in memory, information processing speed (IPS), and executive functions (EF), are common in autistic and high autistic trait populations. Despite memory, IPS and EF being sensitive to age-related change, little is known about the cognitive profile of older adults with high autistic traits. This study explores cross-sectional memory, IPS and EF task performance in a large sample of older adults in the online PROTECT cohort (n = 22,285, aged 50-80 years), grouped by high vs. low autistic traits. Approximately 1% of PROTECT participants (n = 325) endorsed high autistic traits [henceforth Autism Spectrum Trait (AST) group]. Differences between AST and age-, gender-, and education-matched comparison older adults (COA; n = 11,744) were explored on memory, IPS and EF tasks and questionnaires administered online. AST had lower performance than COA on tasks measuring memory, working memory, sustained attention, and information processing. No group differences were observed in simple attention or verbal reasoning. A similar pattern of results was observed when controlling for age, and current depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, AST self-reported more cognitive decline than COA, but this difference was not significant when controlling for current depression symptoms, or when using informant-report. These findings suggest that autistic traits are associated with cognitive function in middle-aged and later life. Older adults with high autistic traits experienced more performance difficulties in a range of memory, IPS and EF tasks compared with the low autistic traits comparison group. Further longitudinal work is needed to examine age-related change in both older autistic and autistic trait populations.

KW - aging

KW - ASD

KW - autistic traits

KW - cognition

KW - executive function

KW - information processing

KW - memory

KW - older adults

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143434207&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/aur.2866

DO - 10.1002/aur.2866

M3 - Article

C2 - 36454212

AN - SCOPUS:85143434207

SN - 1939-3792

VL - 16

SP - 429

EP - 440

JO - Autism research

JF - Autism research

IS - 2

ER -