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Background: The follow-up study on neuropsychiatric changes after the lifting of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quarantine in patients with cognitive impairment and their caregivers is still lacking, and relative information is needed to formulate more comprehensive healthcare prevention measures worldwide. Aims: To provide data on the changes in neuropsychiatric performance after the lifting of COVID-19 quarantine in patients with cognitive disorders and their caregivers. Methods: Two surveys in Chongqing, China were conducted via telephonic interview with 531 patients and their caregivers. The baseline survey was performed from February 11 to 23, 2020, and the follow-up was from October 24 to November 9, 2020. The data of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs), sleep, nutrition, and chronic diseases of patients, as well as the burden of care, anxiety, and depression of caregivers were evaluated. Results: Significant alleviation of NPSs after the lifting of COVID-19 quarantine was observed in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia (both P < 0.05). Compared with baseline, the prevalence for NPSs of all participants dropped from 57.94 to 38.82%. Among NPS subdomains, apathy displayed the biggest decline at follow-up by 10.72%, followed by nighttime behavior by 8.65%. Mixed effect generalized estimation equation analysis showed significant amelioration in hallucination, depression, apathy, irritability, aberrant motor behavior, and nighttime behavior (all P < 0.05), with the most prominent changes in nighttime behavior and apathy. Among the patients with unsatisfactory control of chronic disease, the medication adherence rate dropped by approximately 30% after the lifting of quarantine. More importantly, around 13% increase of care burden was observed among the caregivers at follow-up, with both depression and anxiety rising by nearly 4%. Conclusion: The prolonged quarantine may exacerbate NPS in patients with memory disorders, while the care burden and mental stability of the caregivers after the pandemic should also be concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 is erupting globally. Mass quarantine had been implemented all around China which could influence the psychological status of patients with memory disorders and their caregivers. Aim: To investigate the psychological impact of mass quarantine on patients with memory disorders and their caregivers in China. Methods: We completed a cross-sectional study in 787 patients and their caregivers registered from 2010 to 2019 in Memory Clinic, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, by telephone interviews. The performance in neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs), sleep, nutrition, chronic diseases of patients, and the burden of care, anxiety and depression of caregivers was assessed by six assessment scales (MNA-SF, PSQI, NPI, RSS, PHQ-9 and GAD-7). Results: Only 68 (8.6%) patients worried about the outbreak of COVID-19. The prevalence of NPSs among all subjects was nearly 60.0%. Approximately 50.0% of the caregivers reported distress. More than 70.0% of patients remained stable in NPSs. However, anxiety, depression, aberrant motor disorder and delusion were exacerbated (22.9%, 18.6%, 17.1% and 16.8%, respectively). Appetite and eating disorder led alleviation rate by 25.8% while disappearing rate of agitation led by 5.8%. 7.5% of caregivers manifested depressive symptoms while 4.9% expressed anxiety symptoms, and 40.8% showed care burden. The coefficients of RSS and PHQ-9, RSS and GAD-7, RSS and NPI-D, PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were 0.7, 0.5, 0.5 and 0.6, respectively (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Changes in NPSs during COVID-19 were observed in some patients with memory disorders and their caregivers, and adherence to medication contributed to the stabilization of NPSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to elucidate whether malnutrition is associated with cognitive impairment in an older Chinese population. Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted in 2365 participants aged 60 years or older from January 2013 to September 2019. Nutritional status was measured by using the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA‐SF). Cognitive function was assessed with the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE). The relationship between malnutrition or each Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form domain and cognitive impairment was examined with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of malnutrition, risk of malnutrition, and cognitive impairment was 5.54%, 33.45%, and 36.74%, respectively. The prevalence was higher in those 80 years and older: 7.88%, 40.75%, and 53.65%, respectively. The Mini‐Mental State Examination score was positively correlated with the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form score (r = 0.364, P < 0.001). After adjustment for age, gender, education, marital status, and living alone, malnutrition (odds ratio (OR) = 3.927, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.650–5.819), anorexia (OR = 1.454, 95%CI: 1.192–1.774), weight loss (OR = 1.697, 95%CI: 1.406–2.047), impaired mobility (OR = 4.156, 95%CI: 3.311–5.218), and psychological stress (OR = 1.414, 95%CI: 1.070–1.869) were significantly associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the prevalence of malnutrition and cognitive impairment is relatively high and increases with age. Malnutrition, anorexia, weight loss, impaired mobility, and psychological stress are significantly associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment. Therefore, clinicians should assess the nutritional and cognitive status of the elderly regularly to improve early detection and timely intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this prospective study, we evaluated the usefulness of the advanced dementia prognostic tool (ADEPT) for estimating the 2-year survival of persons with advanced dementia (AD) in China., Methods: The study predicted the 2-year mortality of 115 persons with AD using the ADEPT score., Results: In total, 115 persons with AD were included in the study. Of these persons, 48 died. The mean ADEPT score was 13.0. The AUROC for the prediction of the 2-year mortality rate using the ADEPT score was 0.62. The optimal threshold of the ADEPT score was 11.2, which had an AUROC of 0.63, specificity of 41.8, and sensitivity of 83.3., Conclusions: The ADEPT score based on a threshold of 11.2 may serve as a prognostic tool to determine the 2-year survival rate of persons with AD in Chongqing, China. However, further studies are needed to explore the nature of this relationship., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)