Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders

INTRODUCTION: Transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) is a non-invasive tool for measuring cerebrovascular hemodynamics. Studies have reported alterations in cerebrovascular hemodynamics in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, as well as in different etiologies of dementia. This systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to investigate the relationship between cerebral blood velocity (CBv) and pulsatility index (PI) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in persons with MCI and dementia...

BACKGROUND: Promoting cardiovascular health (CVH) by Life's Simple 7 is associated with better cognitive function. In 2022, the American Heart Association (AHA) prompted Life's Essential 8 (LE8) to strengthen CVH assessment. This study investigated the association between the new CVH metrics assessed by LE8 and cognitive function, thus providing evidence for implementing LE8 in the primordial prevention of cognitive impairment. METHOD: 2050 participants aged 60 and older from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2014 were included...

INTRODUCTION: As disease modifying therapies become available, early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) becomes increasingly important. However, biomarkers in LMICs are rare and costly. Thus, we evaluated an AD-focused BCT, the Memory Alteration Test (M@T), to detect biomarker-proven AD and quantify its correlation with neurodegeneration and CSF AD biomarkers in a cohort of participants from Lima, Peru. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of a cohort of 185 participants: 63 controls, 53 with amnestic MCI (aMCI), and 69 with dementia due to AD...

BACKGROUND: Studies suggest a role of vitamin D in the progression and symptomatology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), with few in vitro studies pointing to effects on serotonergic and amyloidogenic turnover. However, limited data exist in AD patients and on the potential association with cognition, and behavioral and psychological signs and symptoms of dementia (BPSD). In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we, therefore, explored potential correlations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) concentrations, indicative of vitamin D status, with cognitive/BPSD scorings, serum serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker levels...

Introduction Sensorineural hearing loss is a common problem, especially among geriatric patients, and it requires hearing aids. Unfortunately, most geriatric patients are hesitant to use hearing aids. Purpose of this study is to investigate whether computerized training therapies increase the attention and perception of patients who have been given hearing aids using psychophysiological tests and wave p300 records. Methods One hundred patients (40 women and 60 men) who used hearing aids were included in our study...

INTRODUCTION: We examined the relationship between previous fluctuations in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, future changes in MMSE scores, and attrition from follow-up surveys, which helps a more comprehensive interpretation of repeatedly collected MMSE scores. METHODS: This 4-year longitudinal study included 2,073 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years in Japan. The MMSE was administered at baseline (T0), 2-yeas' (T1), and 4-years' (T2) follow-up...

INTRODUCTION: Depression is often difficult to detect in long-term care (LTC) patients with major neurocognitive disorders (MNCD) and an observer-rated screening scale could facilitate assessments. This study aimed to establish the external validity and reliability of the Nursing Homes Short Depression Inventory (NH-SDI) in LTC patients with MNCD and to compare its estimates to the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), the most used scale for depression in MNCD. METHODS: A focus discussion group of experts assessed the content validity of the NH-SDI...

INTRODUCTION: Early-life educational attainment contributes to cognitive reserve (CR). We investigated the associations of lifelong CR with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among older people with limited formal education. METHODS: This population-based cohort study included 2127 dementia-free participants (≥60 years; 59.4% women; 81.5% with no or elementary school) who were examined at baseline (August-December 2014) and follow-up (March-September 2018)...

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent type of dementia and can cause abnormal cognitive function and pro-gressive loss of essential life skills. Early screening is thus necessary for the preven-tion and intervention of AD. Speech dysfunc-tion is an early-onset symptom of AD pa-tients. Recent studies have demonstrated the promise of automated acoustic assessment using acoustic or linguistic features extracted from speech. However, most previous stud-ies have relied on manual transcription of text to extract linguistic features, which weakens the efficiency of automated as-sessment...

INTRODUCTION: Both physical and cognitive functions are required to be assessed to determine the level of gait independence in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD); nonetheless, a method to achieve this assessment has not been established. This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of an assessment method that combined muscle strength, balance ability, and cognitive function parameters in discriminating the level of gait independence in a real-world setting in hospitalized patients with AD...

Introduction Visual and spatial perception (VSP) are cognitive domains frequently assessed in the screening and neuropsychological assessment of dementia. Evidence suggests that VSP impairment is common in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite this evidence, the ability of VSP tests to discriminate between healthy older adults and people with AD remains mixed. The purpose of this literature review was to employ a systematic search strategy to identify empirical evidence supporting the diagnostic utility of VSP tests which may be used in the screening and diagnosis of AD...

INTRODUCTION: Hearing loss (HL) is considered a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. We aimed to examine the relationship between HL and incident dementia diagnosis in a province-wide population-based cohort study with matched controls. METHODS: Administrative healthcare databases were linked to generate a cohort of patients who were aged ≥40 years at their first claimed hearing amplification devices (HAD) between April 2007 and March 2016 through the Assistive Devices Program (ADP) (257,285 with claims and 1,005,010 controls)...

INTRODUCTION: This paper provides a summary of findings on the public's knowledge and attitudes towards dementia. We aim to investigate if the attitudes of Singaporeans towards dementia have changed over the years by adopting a questionnaire used in a similar study in 2012. METHODS: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted through the dissemination of an existing, online questionnaire to participants above 16 years of age. Out of 1500 subjects, results from 1373 participants were analysed...

INTRODUCTION: Nursing home (NH) staff mention knowledge deficits regarding the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSDs) in residents with neurocognitive disorders (NCDs). Staff training therefore appears to be necessary, however existing evidence on best training practices and their outcomes remain scattered. This systematic review aimed to: 1) identify the best clinical practices and theoretical bases of staff training interventions on BPSD management in NHs, and 2) summarize the effects of these interventions on resident and staff outcomes...

INTRODUCTION: Stem cell-based regenerative medicine has provided an excellent opportunity to investigate therapeutic strategies and innovative treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, there is an absence of visual overviews to assess the published literature systematically. METHODS: In this review, the bibliometric approach was used to estimate the searched data on stem cell research in AD from 2004 to 2022, and we also utilized CiteSpace and VOSviewer software to evaluate the contributions and co-occurrence relationships of different countries/regions, institutes, journals, and authors as well as to discover research hot spots and encouraging future trends in this field...

INTRODUCTION: Cerebral infarction is one of the most common cerebrovascular diseases. The sequelae caused by cerebral infarction, including limb paralysis, crooked mouth corners, language barriers, etc., seriously affect the patient's physical and mental health and enthusiasm for rehabilitation training. Therefore, psychological intervention has important positive significance for the rehabilitation and nursing of patients with cerebral infarction. METHODS: This is a single-blind controlled study...

INTRODUCTION: As the population ages, the prevalence of cognitive impairment is expanding. Given the recent pandemic, there is a need for remote testing modalities to assess cognitive deficits in individuals with neurological disorders. Self-administered, remote, tablet-based cognitive assessments would be clinically valuable if they can detect and classify cognitive deficits as effectively as traditional in-person neuropsychological testing. METHODS: We tested whether the Miro application, a tablet-based neurocognitive platform, measured the same cognitive domains as traditional pencil-and-paper neuropsychological tests...

INTRODUCTION: Vascular factors have been shown to be associated with increased risk of dementia. However, clinical trials have so far been unsuccessful, suggesting new approaches are needed. The aim of this study was to use population-based real world data to investigate risk factors and preventive factors for dementia, including the effects of traditional Chinese medicine. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study using LHID2000, a dataset randomly selected from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD)...

INTRODUCTION: Depression is often under-detected in long-term care (LTC) patients with major neurocognitive disorders (MNCD) and is associated with important morbidity, mortality, and costs. Observer-rated outcome measures (ObsROMs) could help resolve this problematic; however, evidence on their accuracy is scattered in the literature. This systematic review aimed at summarizing this evidence. METHODS: A literature search was conducted in 7 databases using keywords, MeSHs, and bibliographic searches...

INTRODUCTION: Tau protein accumulation in the brain is thought to be one of the causes of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The glymphatic system was discovered a decade ago as a waste drainage system in the brain that promotes the elimination of amyloid-beta and tau protein. We here evaluated the relationships between glymphatic system activity and regional brain volumes in PSP patients. METHOD: Subjects were 24 patients with PSP and 42 healthy participants who underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)...