ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the features of cognitive deficits of elderly depression,to evaluate the metabolite changes using MRS,and to assess the correlation between abnormal metabolite ratio of MRS and the scores of MoCA.Methods The samples contained 20 elderly depression patients and 20 healthy controls.All the patients were assessed by Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA).MRS data were acquired by point-resolved echo spin spectroscopy(PRESS)sequence of single vowel 1-hydrogen MRS.The software automatically completed metabolite content measurement,giving the ratio of all metabolite using Cr as reference,including NAA/Cr,Cho/Cr.Results (1)Compared with the controls,the patients depressed had lower scores in attention,executive function,words,delayed recall and total scores(P0.01);(3)The scores in executive function(r=0.71,0.62),words(r=0.79,0.77),delayed recall(r=0.62,0.61)and total scores(r=0.72,0.68)correlated with NAA/Cr in frontal lobe,the scores in delayed recall correlated with NAA/Cr in hippocampus(r=0.81,0.76).Conclusions The cognition function of patients with elderly depression can be generally impaired.The patients depressed had lower ratio of NAA/Cr in both frontal lobe and hippocampus.The cognitive deficits of geriatric depression correlated 1H-MRS changes in its frontal lobe and hippocampus.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study the prevalence and associated factors of loneliness in individuals with speech disability.Methods Using multi-stage stratified random cluster sampling method,170 community-residing ver-bally disabled persons were selected and administered with a general information questionnaire,one single -item loneliness self-rating question and social support scale.A total of 204 study questionnaires were distributed to the subjects;170 subjects(mean age:43.1±13.7 years)completed the survey.Results As high as 46.47% (79/170)of these verbally disabled individuals reported to feel lonely often.Females (OR=2.45),unemployment (OR=2.95), first and second degrees of disability (OR=4.35),co-existence of chronic illnesses (OR=6.50)and low utiliza-tion of social support (OR=2.58)were significantly associated with the increased risk of loneliness in persons with speech disability (P =0.002~0.046).Conclusion Loneliness is highly prevalent in individuals with speech disabili-ty.Verbally disabled persons,who are female,unemployed,severely disabled,and chronically ill and have a low use of social support,are the target population of mental health services.