Subjective cognitive decline and anxious/depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: what is the role of stress perception, stress resilience, and ß-amyloid?

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic may worsen the mental health of people reporting subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and therefore their clinical prognosis. We aimed to investigate the association between the intensity of SCD and anxious/depressive symptoms during confinement and the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Two hundred fifty cognitively unimpaired participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and SCD-Questionnaire (SCD-Q) and underwent amyloid-ß positron emission tomography imaging with [18F] flutemetamol (N = 205) on average 2.4 (± 0.8) years before the COVID-19 confinement. During the confinement, participants completed the HADS, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and an ad hoc questionnaire on worries (access to primary products, self-protection materials, economic situation) and lifestyle changes (sleep duration, sleep quality, eating habits). We investigated stress-related measurements, worries, and lifestyle changes in relation to SCD. We then conducted an analysis of covariance to investigate the association of SCD-Q with HADS scores during the confinement while controlling for pre-confinement anxiety/depression scores and demographics. Furthermore, we introduced amyloid-ß positivity, PSS, and BRS in the models and performed mediation analyses to explore the mechanisms explaining the association between SCD and anxiety/depression. RESULTS: In the whole sample, the average SCD-Q score was 4.1 (± 4.4); 70 (28%) participants were classified as SCD, and 26 (12.7%) were amyloid-ß-positive. During the confinement, participants reporting SCD showed higher PSS (p = 0.035) but not BRS scores (p = 0.65) than those that did not report SCD. No differences in worries or lifestyle changes were observed. Higher SCD-Q scores showed an association with greater anxiety/depression scores irrespective of pre-confinement anxiety/depression levels (p = 0.002). This association was not significant after introducing amyloid-ß positivity and stress-related variables in the model (p = 0.069). Amyloid-ß positivity and PSS were associated with greater HADS irrespective of pre-confinement anxiety/depression scores (p = 0.023; p < 0.001). The association of SCD-Q with HADS was mediated by PSS (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Higher intensity of SCD, amyloid-ß positivity, and stress perception showed independent associations with anxious/depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 confinement irrespective of pre-confinement anxiety/depression levels. The association of SCD intensity with anxiety/depression was mediated by stress perception, suggesting stress regulation as a potential intervention to reduce affective symptomatology in the SCD population in the face of stressors.

Care partner needs of people with neurodegenerative disorders: What are the needs, and how well do the current assessment tools capture these needs? A systematic meta-review.

OBJECTIVES: The burden on care partners, particularly once dementia emerges, is among the greatest of all caregiving groups. This meta-review aimed to (1) synthesis evidence on the self-reported needs of care partners supporting people living with neurodegenerative disorders; (2) compare the needs according to care partner and care recipient characteristics; and (3) determine the face validity of existing care partner needs assessment tools. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of reviews involving a thematic synthesis of care partner needs and differences in needs according to demographic and other characteristics. We then conducted a gap analysis by identifying the themes of needs from existing needs assessment tools specific to dementia and cross-matching them with the needs derived from the thematic synthesis. RESULTS: Drawing on 17 published reviews, the identified range of needs fell into four key themes: (1) knowledge and information, (2) physical, social and emotional support, (3) care partner self-care, and (4) care recipient needs. Needs may differ according to disease trajectory, relationship to the care recipient, and the demographic characteristics of the care partner and recipient. The 'captured needs' range between 8% and 66% across all the included needs assessment tools. CONCLUSIONS: Current tools do not fully or adequately capture the self-identified needs of care partners of people living with neurodegenerative disorders. Given the high burden on care partners, which has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 (SARS CoV-2) pandemic, the needs assessment tools should align with the self-reported needs of care partners throughout the caregiving trajectory to better understand unmet needs and target supportive interventions.

Subjective cognitive decline is associated with higher anxiety and depression during the COVID-19‒related confinement

Background Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is often related to affective symptoms and both predict cognitive decline. We investigated whether SCD status predicted higher anxiety/depression during the Covid19-related confinement, along with amyloid positivity in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Method We included 205 participants from the ALFA+ study (Table 1). During the confinement, anxiety and depression (Hospital Depression and Anxiety scale, HADS), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale) and stress resilience (Brief Resilience Scale) were measured. Participants completed HADS, SCD-Questionnaire, and underwent a [18F]flutemetamol-PET scan on average 2.4 years before confinement (baseline). We ran linear analyses with (i) cross-sectional HADS scores during the confinement as well as (ii) change from baseline to confinement (delta scores) as dependent variables. SCD and amyloid status (+/-, defined with a Centiloid threshold of 12) and their interaction were considered as predictors, and demographics, APOE-ε4 status, and baseline HADS (for longitudinal analyses) as covariates. In a second step, perceived stress and stress resilience were considered in the models among covariates. Result Twenty-seven percent (n=56) of the participants were classified as SCD and 12.7% as amyloid positive. When main effects were tested, both SCD (p=0.03) and amyloid positivity (p=0.003) were associated with higher HADS scores during confinement (Table 2a). Further, a significant SCD*amyloid interaction was observed (p=0.001) such that only SCD participants with an amyloid positive scan showed higher HADS scores (p=0.001). SCD participants showed higher perceived stress than non-SCD participants (p=.044), but no differences were found in stress resilience (p=0.6). The inclusion of perceived stress and stress resilience as covariates reduced the SCD effect to a trend (p=0.06) but not the effect of amyloid (p=0.003). Longitudinal analyses with delta scores showed similar results for amyloid but not for SCD main effects (Table 2b). The amyloid*SCD interaction was also significant in longitudinal analyses (p=0.002) with amyloid status predicting an increase in HADS scores only in participants with SCD (p=0.003) (Fig. 1). Conclusion Having SCD and being amyloid positive is synergistically related to increased anxiety/depression during the Covid19-related confinement. Longitudinal studies are warranted to investigate the impact of higher confinement related anxiety/depression in the clinical prognosis of the SCD population.