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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on cognitive health in Latin American older adults, increasing the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Our objective was to analyze the prevalence of dementia and the associated factors in Latin American older adults during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Methods: A multicentric first phase cross-sectional observational study was conducted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Five thousand two hundred and forty-five Latin American adults over 60 years of age were studied in 10 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. We used the telephone version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the “Alzheimer Disease 8” scale for functional and cognitive changes, and the abbreviated version of the Yesavage depression scale. We also asked for sociodemographic and lockdown data. All the evaluation was made by telephone. Cross-tabulations and χ2 tests were used to determine the variability of the prevalence of impairment by sociodemographic characteristics and binary logistic regression to assess the association between dementia and sociodemographic factors. Results: We observed that the prevalence of dementia in Latin America is 15.6%, varying depending on the country (Argentine = 7.83 and Bolivia = 28.5%). The variables most associated with dementia were race and age. It does not seem to be associated with the pandemic but with social and socio-health factors. Conclusion: The prevalence of dementia shows a significant increase in Latin America, attributable to a constellation of ethnic, demographic, and socioeconomic factors.

Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a chronic condition that encompasses widespread pain associated with cognitive impairment and significant emotional distress related to functional disability that affects mainly women. However, the mechanisms underlying the origin of the cognitive impairments and how the current COVID-19 pandemic impacts remain elusive. This study aimed to determine whether there is an association between cognitive performance in executive functions, physical pain, and psychological distress caused by the pandemic in a group of Chilean women with FMS using a novel online protocol of neuropsychological evaluation. We found that women with FMS present cognitive impairment predominantly explained by pain and anxiety symptoms, which are associated with the difficulties experienced from the COVID-19 pandemic. These results point out the importance of considering a broader perspective for treatment, including anxiety symptoms and the psychological distress caused by the pandemic as a therapeutic target for cognitive impairments.

Introduction Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that may occur alongside cognitive changes, with effects on multiple cognitive domains. Objective To compare the cognitive performance of patients with epilepsy and healthy controls through Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) during outpatient consultation at a reference diagnostic center in Colombia and analyze and the influencing factors. Materials and methodology One-hundred and four patients during neurology outpatient consultation in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, were assessed with the (MoCA) test, i.e., 54 people who consulted for headache and have not been diagnosed with epilepsy (NEP) and 50 with a diagnosis of epilepsy (EPs) according to the diagnostic criteria of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). Results Significant differences were found in the total mean scores of the (MoCA) between (EPs) and (NPE) groups (t = 4.72; p

In Latin America, the volume of care of infected patients, higher presence of comorbidities among older adults, and restricted access to clinical controls have become this age group into one with the highest risk (Dubey etal , 2020) [ ]a Consortium of universities, research centers, and clinical centers have joined forces to carry out research which seeks to know the emotional state of Latin American older adults during confinement by Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) The protocol we used includes a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, information on confinement, lifestyles, and the abbreviated version of the Yesavage Geriatric Depression Scale (Martinez de la Iglesia etal , 2020)