Personality traits and brain health: a large prospective cohort study

Personality has recently emerged as a critical determinant for multiple health outcomes. However, the evidence is less established for brain health, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, utilizing data of 298,259 participants from the UK Biobank, five personality traits, including warmth, diligence, nervousness, sociability and curiosity, were constructed, and their relationships with brain disorders were examined with Cox regression and Mendelian randomization analyses. The results revealed consistent deleterious roles of nervousness, while the protective roles of warmth, diligence, sociability and curiosity in brain disorders were emphasized. Neuroimaging analyses highlighted the associations of personality traits with critical brain regions including the frontal cortex, temporal cortex and thalamus. Exploratory analyses revealed the mediating effects of neutrophil and high-density lipoprotein, indicating the contribution of inflammation and lipid metabolism to the associations between personality and brain health. This study provides a foundation for personality-oriented interventions in brain health, and it is necessary to validate our findings in other populations.