Mind versus body: Perceived stress and biological stress are independently related to cognitive decline

Chronic stress may increase risk of age-related cognitive decline. 'Stress', however, is a multidimensional construct and few studies have investigated the inter-relationship of subjective stress and biological stress with cognitive decline. In this study, we examine the relationship between perceived stress and two measures of biological stress - allostatic load, indexing stress at the physiological level and leukocyte telomere length, indexing stress at the cellular level - with cognitive decline over a 12-year period in adults aged 50 and older. 3,458 participants (aged ≥ 50) from The Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing with measurements of allostatic load, telomere length and perceived stress at baseline and repeated measures of cognitive function were included. Hierarchical linear regression models with adjustment for multiple potential confounders were applied, and repeated stratified by sex in sensitivity analyses. Higher perceived stress at baseline was associated with lower cognitive function (β = -0.10, 95 % CI -0.12, -0.07, p