Effect of COVID-19 quarantine on cognitive, functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Background: During the last two years, COVID-19 affected older people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but conflicting and sparse results are still present. The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of changes in functional, cognitive and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), and caregiver's stress during the period of quarantine in 2020 in patients affected by dementia/MCI living in Palermo, Sicily.

Methods: Outpatients affected by MCI/dementia were evaluated before and after COVID-19 quarantine.