THE EFFECT OF COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN ANXIETY IMPOSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN PARTICIPANTS OF LONGITUDINAL OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES IN AGING

Session Type
SYMPOSIUM
Date
10.03.2021, Wednesday
Session Time
08:00 - 09:45
Room
On Demand Symposia A
Lecture Time
09:30 - 09:45
Presenter
  • Stijn Servaes, Canada
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On-Demand

Abstract

Aims

To assess anxiety and its relationship to tau pathology and COVID-19 induced subjective stress in the participants of a biomarker observational study during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Participants of the Translational Biomarker of Aging and Dementia (TRIAD) cohort who had baseline measures of cognition (MMSE, MoCA), anxiety (GAD-7) and the tau tracer [18F]MK-6240, were assessed during the COVID-19 lockdown period, to evaluate their individual change in anxiety and cognitive decline. A measurement of COVID-19 induced subjective stress was included at the follow-up time point as well.

Results

244 TRIAD participants (cognitively healthy, N=178; cognitively impaired, N=66, of which 16 had dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease) were assessed in between March and May 2020. While increased on average in the cognitively healthy group, both anxiety and subjective stress due to COVID-19 were lower in the cognitively impaired group. Furthermore, the strong correlation in cognitively healthy individuals between anxiety and subjective stress due to COVID-19 was not present in the cognitively impaired individuals (fig 1). A negative association between [18F]MK-6240 tracer binding and the difference in GAD score between the two timepoints was found in cognitively impaired individuals (fig 2). Cognitive decline was observed only in symptomatic individuals.

Figure 1:

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Figure 2:

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Conclusions

Cognitive impairment differentially affected anxiety among participants of this longitudinal observational study during the lockdown period. The presence of tau negatively affected the difference in GAD scores between the two time points. Further studies should determine whether these effects can impact the outcomes of clinical trials.

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