Objectives: The nature of the association between the cognitive decline and quality of life (QoL) during the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has not been studied in detail. We designed this study to determine if the association between cognitive domains in AD and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) changed over 18 months.
Methods: We recruited 80 community-dwelling older adults with mild to moderate AD and 61 healthy elderly controls as well as their next-of-kin. The primary outcome measure was the QoL-AD. Specific cognitive functions were assessed with a broad range of neuropsychological measures, which were later grouped into cognitive domains following factor analyses at the baseline and 18-month assessments. Other explanatory variables included demographics, psychopathology, burden of care, and use of medication.
Results: Self-reported QoL-AD scores were not associated with any of the identified cognitive domains at either assessment. The cognitive domains of people with AD changed between baseline and the 18-month assessment, as did the association of these factors with carer-rated HRQoL. The HRQoL scores assigned by the next-of-kin declined alongside a general measure of cognitive function.
Discussion: These results indicate that HRQoL is not consistently associated with specific cognitive domains in AD and that cognitive-enhancing focused therapies may fail to affect the HRQoL of people with AD.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbu090 | DOI Listing |
Support Care Cancer
January 2025
Department of Medical Oncology, Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, 1066 CX, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Purpose: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) malignant brain tumour (BT) survivors are at risk of adverse health outcomes, which may impact their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to investigate the (1) prevalence of physical and psychological adverse health outcomes, (2) the HRQoL, and (3) the association of adverse health outcomes and HRQoL among long-term AYA-BT survivors. Adverse health outcomes and HRQoL were compared to other AYA cancer (AYAC) survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
January 2025
Department of Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.
Introduction: Successful cognitive aging is related to both maintaining brain structure and avoiding Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, but how these factors interplay is unclear.
Methods: A total of 109 cognitively normal older adults (70+ years old) underwent amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and cognitive testing. Cognitive aging was quantified using the cognitive age gap (CAG), subtracting chronological age from predicted cognitive age.
Rural Remote Health
January 2025
Post-graduate Program in Collective Health, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Introduction: Aging in rural areas is challenging and has very specific characteristics in the way these elderly people live their old age, from the perspectives of cognition, functionality and life purpose. There is a lack of information and data in the literature on how people age in rural areas around the world. The aim of this study was to identify and describe how people age in rural areas, focusing on the following domains: cognition, physical function/functionality and life purpose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Open
December 2024
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Introduction: Deficits in decision-making (DM) can lead to adverse outcomes across multiple domains such as financial management and medical care. By hindering such DM abilities, cognitive impairment (CI) often affects quality of life. Routine screening for CI, however, does not include systematic and comprehensive assessment of DM ability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Open
December 2024
North Region and Department of Psychosis, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
Introduction: There are insufficient scalable, evidence-based treatments to meet increasing mental health needs of young people. Offering interim, brief interventions for young persons with psychological distress can improve access to care and mitigate adverse effects of long waiting times. This study tests the efficacy of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), a strength-based, goal-directed intervention, in adolescents and young adults at a community-based youth mental health service in Singapore.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!