Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology最新文献

Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms affect the majority of dementia patients. Past studies report high rates of potentially inappropriate prescribing of psychotropic medications in this population. We investigate differences in neuropsychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic medication prescribing in a local US cohort by sex and race.

Methods: We utilize Medicare claims and prescription fill records in a cohort of 100% Medicare North and South Carolina beneficiaries ages 50 and above for the year 2017 with a dementia diagnosis. We identify dementia and quantify diagnosis of anxiety, depression and psychosis using validated coding algorithms. We search Medicare claims for antianxiety, antidepressant and antipsychotic medications to determine prescriptions filled.

Results: Anxiety and depression were diagnosed at higher rates in White patients; psychosis at higher rates in Black patients. (P < .001) Females were diagnosed with anxiety, depression and psychosis at higher rates than males (P < .001) and filled more antianxiety and antidepressant medications than males. (P < .001) Black and Other race patients filled more antipsychotic medications for anxiety, depression and psychosis than White patients. (P < .001) Antidepressants were prescribed at higher rates than antianxiety or antipsychotic medications across all patients and diagnoses. Of patients with no neuropsychiatric diagnosis, 11.4% were prescribed an antianxiety medication, 22.8% prescribed an antidepressant and 7.6% prescribed an antipsychotic.

Conclusions: The high fill rate of antianxiety (benzodiazepine) medications in dementia patients, especially females is a concern. Patients are prescribed psychotropic medications at high rates. This practice may represent potentially inappropriate prescribing. Patient/caregiver education with innovative community outreach and care delivery models may help decrease medication use.

Objective: Apathy, a motivational disorder, is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and often misdiagnosed as depression. Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has been associated with increased apathy in adolescents and adults with depression. Based on observations that serotonin may downregulate dopaminergic systems, we examined the relationship between apathy and SSRI use in individuals with PD.

Methods: Medications, mood/motivation scales, and clinical data were collected from a convenience sample of 400 individuals with PD. Depression and apathy were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-Il) and the Apathy Scale (AS). Antidepressant medications were grouped by mechanism type.

Results: Of the 400 PD patients, 26% were on SSRIs. On standard mood/motivation scales, 38% of the sample exceeded clinical cut-offs for apathy and 28% for depression. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that SSRIs were the only antidepressant that were significantly associated with higher apathy scores (β = .1, P = .02). Less education (β = -.1, P = .01) worse cognition (β = -.1, P = .01), and greater depressive symptoms (β = .5, P < .001) were also significant predictors of apathy.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that use of SSRIs, but not other antidepressants, is associated with greater apathy in PD. Given the interactive relationship between serotonin and dopamine, the current findings highlight the importance of considering apathy when determining which antidepressants to prescribe to individuals with PD. Similarly, switching a SSRI for an alternative antidepressant in individuals with PD who are apathetic may be a potential treatment for apathy that needs further study.

Objective: To compare the test-retest reliabilities and minimal detectable change (MDC) of the Short Portable Mental State Questionnaire (SPMSQ) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in patients with stroke.

Methods: 63 patients were recruited from 1 medical center. The SPMSQ and MoCA were administered twice, 2 weeks apart.

Results: Both measures showed high intraclass correlation coefficients (SPMSQ: 0.87; MoCA: 0.89) and acceptable MDC%s (SPMSQ: 14.8%; MoCA: 19.6%). A small correlation (r = 0.30) was found between the absolute difference and average in each pair of assessments in the SPMSQ, which was close to the criterion of heteroscedasticity. A small practice effect was observed in the MoCA (Cohen's d = 0.30).

Conclusion: The SPMSQ demonstrated smaller random measurement error and an absence of practice effect. When comparing the psychometric properties of the SPMSQ and MoCA as outcome measures for assessing cognitive function in patients with stroke, the SPMSQ appears to be a more suitable choice than the MoCA.

Objective: This scientific research aimed to investigate the feasibility of implementing a clinical staging (CS) model for personality disorders (PDs) in older adults. The CS model could provide valuable insights into the life course of personality pathology, prognosis, and treatment decisions for PDs in older adults.

Methods/design: The study employed an international Delphi methodology with three rounds and involved 21 experts.

Results: Consensus was achieved on 12 out of 17 statements, confirming the viability of a CS model for PDs in older adults. The proposed model incorporates the Alternative Model for PDs, criterion A, and integrates life course information, distinguishing between chronic PD, re-emergent PD, late-onset PD, and past PD.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that international experts support the implementation of a CS model for PDs in older adults, considering both the severity of personality functioning and the retrospective life course of PD expression.

Background: Neurofilament Light Chain (NfL) is a biomarker of axonal injury elevated in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease dementia. Blood NfL also inversely correlates with cognitive performance in those conditions. However, few studies have assessed NfL as a biomarker of global cognition in individuals demonstrating mild cognitive deficits who are at risk for vascular-related cognitive decline.

Objective: To assess the relationship between blood NfL and global cognition in individuals with possible vascular MCI (vMCI) throughout cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Additionally, NfL levels were compared to age/sex-matched cognitively unimpaired (CU) controls.

Method: Participants with coronary artery disease (vMCI or CU) were recruited at entry to a 24-week CR program. Global cognition was measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and plasma NfL level (pg/ml) was quantified using a highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: Higher plasma NfL was correlated with worse MoCA scores at baseline (β = -.352, P = .029) in 43 individuals with vMCI after adjusting for age, sex, and education. An increase in NfL was associated with worse global cognition (b[SE] = -4.81[2.06], P = .023) over time, however baseline NfL did not predict a decline in global cognition. NfL levels did not differ between the vMCI (n = 39) and CU (n = 39) groups (F(1, 76) = 1.37, P = .245).

Conclusion: Plasma NfL correlates with global cognition at baseline in individuals with vMCI, and is associated with decline in global cognition during CR. Our findings increase understanding of NfL and neurobiological mechanisms associated with cognitive decline in vMCI.

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD), considered a preclinical dementia stage, is less understood in Hispanics, a high-risk group for dementia. We investigated SCD to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progression risk, as well as baseline and longitudinal features of depressive symptoms, SCD complaints, and objective cognitive performance among Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic Whites (NHW).

Methods: Hispanic (n = 23) and NHW (n = 165) SCD participants were evaluated at baseline and 2-year follow-up. Evaluations assessed function, depressive symptoms, SCD, and objective cognitive performance.

Results: Hispanics were at increased risk of progression to MCI (OR: 6.10, 95% CI 1.09-34.20, P = .040). Hispanic participants endorsed more depressive symptoms at baseline (P = .048) that worsened more longitudinally (OR: 3.16, 95% CI 1.18-8.51, P = .023). Hispanic participants had increased SCD complaints on the Brief Cognitive Rating Scale (BCRS) (β = .40 SE: .17, P = .023), and in specific BCRS domains: concentration (β = .13, SE: .07, P = .047), past memory (β = .13, SE: .06, P = .039) and functional abilities (β = .10, SE: .05, P = .037). In objective cognitive performance, Hispanic ethnicity associated with decline in MMSE (β = -.27, SE: .13, P = .039), MoCA (β = -.80 SE: .34, P = .032), Trails A (β = 2.75, SE: .89, P = .002), Trails B (β = 9.18, SE: 2.71, P = .001) and Guild Paragraph Recall Delayed (β = -.80 SE: .28, P = .005). Conclusions: Hispanic ethnicity associated with a significantly increased risk of 2-year progression of SCD to MCI compared to NHW. This increased risk associated with increased depressive symptoms, distinctive SCD features, and elevated amnestic and non-amnestic objective cognitive decline. This supports further research to refine the assessment of preclinical dementia in this high-risk group.

Background: Delivering a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) can be challenging not just for patients and families, but also for clinicians. Our objective was to understand dementia specialty care clinicians' perspectives on their role in diagnosis and diagnostic disclosure in dementia.

Methods: Qualitative interviews with clinicians from a specialty tertiary dementia care center focused on practices, challenges, and opportunities addressing patient and caregiver needs in dementia. Data was analyzed by an interdisciplinary team using thematic analysis.

Results: The 16 participants included behavioral neurologists, social workers, neuropsychologists, and nurses. Themes included the value of providing an accurate diagnosis, the timing and challenges of delivering a diagnosis, the central focus on diagnosis alongside the need for more education on care management, and the role of the interdisciplinary team.

Discussion: We identified areas for improvement and strengths that can be built upon or adapted to other settings, including providing clinicians in specialty and primary care settings more guidance and support when diagnostic challenges arise, strengthening interdisciplinary teamwork, and making dementia diagnosis and care more accessible.

Switching, a critical executive function, can manifest as task switching (TS) or response switching (RS). Although TS impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) are well-studied, RS, especially in contexts requiring adaptive behavior to external or internal cues, is less explored. This study evaluated the impact of PD on RS under exogenous and endogenous cueing. Using a gamified, remote task triggering these cues, RS was assessed in 85 PD patients and 82 neurologically healthy participants (NHP). RS cost was quantified by comparing reaction times between repeating and changing responses. A linear mixed model analyzed the effects of group, cueing mode, and their interaction on RS cost. PD patients exhibited increased RS costs under exogenous cueing but not under endogenous cueing. These findings indicate that while PD patients can effectively use predictive endogenous cues, they struggle with less predictive exogenous cues, emphasizing the need for compensatory strategies and technological aids in daily activities.

Background: There is limited and inconsistent evidence on the association between electroencephalography (EEG) measured sleep and depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults. This study aimed to investigate the cross-sectional association between EEG-measured sleep and depressive symptoms.

Methods: Using baseline data from a randomized clinical trial, we included 66 sedentary community-dwelling older adults with sleep complaints (≥ 1 self-reported insomnia symptom). Sleep was measured using an in-home sleep EEG (Sleep Profiler™) for 2 nights and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was used to measure depressive symptoms. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted with each sleep parameter as the primary predictor and GDS score as the outcome, adjusting for age, sex, race, education, marital status, chronic conditions, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score.

Results: Several sleep variables were associated with depressive symptoms (GDS score), including a higher percentage of sleep stage N1 (B = 0.11, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02 - 0.20) and N2 (B = 0.04, 95% CI: 0.00 - 0.08), a lower percentage of N3 sleep (B = -0.04, 95% CI: -0.08 to -0.01), greater wake after sleep onset (B = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.00 - 0.02), and a greater number of awakenings ≥90s/hour (B = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.21-1.53).

Conclusions: Our study reveals that among sedentary community-dwelling older adults with sleep complaints, more lighter sleep (stage N1, N2), less deep (N3) sleep, and increased awakenings are associated with more depressive symptoms. Sleep interventions aimed at enhancing sleep architecture may also help alleviate depressive symptoms in this population.

Background and objectives: Hearing aids may reduce the risk of dementia among individuals with hearing loss. However, no evidence is available from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness of hearing aids use in reducing incident dementia. Using target trial emulation, we leveraged an existing longitudinal cohort study to estimate the association between hearing aids initiation and risk of dementia.

Research design and methods: The Health and Retirement Study was used to emulate target trials among non-institutionalized participants aged ≥50 years with self-reported hearing loss, without dementia at baseline, and without use of hearing aids in the previous 2 years. Intention-to-treat analysis was conducted to estimate the risk of dementia associated with hearing aids initiation vs controls who did not initiate hearing aids. Pooled logistic regression models with inverse-probability of treatment and censoring weights were applied to estimate risk ratios, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using 1000 sets of bootstrapping.

Results: Among 2314 participants (328 in the intervention group and 1986 in the control group; average age: 72.3 ± 9.7 years, 49% women, and 81% White), after 8 years of follow-up, risk of dementia was significantly lower among individuals who initiated hearing aids (risk difference (RD): -0.05, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.08, -0.01). A lower risk was observed particularly among adults aged 50-74 years, men, and individuals with cardiovascular disease.

Discussion and implications: Hearing aids use was associated with a significant reduction of incident dementia. Future interventional studies are needed to further assess the effectiveness of hearing aids in preventing dementia.