Cognitive impairment associated with drug use in old age people

IntroductionSubstance use disorder is a growing phenomenon among old adults. It is usually significantly undervalued, misidentified, under diagnosed and poorly treated. It has been related to cognitive impairment but there are few studies focused on the elderly.AimTo evaluate the relationship between drug use and cognitive impairment in old adults.MethodsWe conducted a prospective study (basal and 6 month follow up) in 67 patients over 65 years old seeking for treatment for drug misuse (alcohol and prescription drugs, mainly benzodiacepines) in addiction and dual diagnosis unit in Barcelona. A specific protocol was performed to evaluate attention, executive function, working memory, learning capacity, fonetic and visual fluency, decision-making, visual construction and cognitive flexibility (FCT, CPT-II, N-BACK, COWAT FAS, TAP, SDMT, IGT, CVLT, TOL, RFFT, STROOP). Patients were compared with a control group (healthy non drug users) with same characteristics (gender, age range and education status). The protocol consisted in two separated sessions of 90 minutes each one performed by a neuropsychologist.ResultsResults obtained suggested that patients under drug misuse had worse scores in fluency, visual construction, memory and attention compared with controls. After 6 month treatment and achieving abstinence patients improve in cognitive skills as verbal learning, short-term memory and free recall of verbal information. Cognitive impairment profile changes depending on the substance abused (alcohol or benzodiacepines).ConclusionsDrug use can produce deleterious effects in old adults. However, those who achieve abstinence may improve some cognitive functioning as verbal learning, short-term memory and free recall of verbal information.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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Mnestic disorders in long-term high-dose diazepam abuse: a pilot study

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1017/s0924933800003606 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 254-259

Author(s):

HG Weeß ◽

R Steinberg ◽

M Pritzel

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Visual Learning ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

High Dose ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Visual Short Term Memory

SummaryCognitive impairment in long-term high-dose diazepam abusers (dose > 30 mg diazepam/day; duration of abuse > 12 months) was examined by administering four memory-related tests and comparing the outcomes with those of matched controls. Deficits were found in spatial and visual learning, spatial and visual short-term memory (STM) as well as for spatial and visual long-term memory (LTM). As for verbal aspects of memory, solely the acquisition of novel verbal material (verbal learning) was impaired, Furthermore, deficits in a concentration task were observed. In chronic abuse the established memory deficits are similar to cognitive impairment after single doses. Relaxing or anxiety-reducing effects of diazepam were no longer present. The results of this experimental study demonstrate the risks of diazepam use beyond therapeutic range.

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Classifying the Risk of Cognitive Impairment Using Sequential Gait Characteristics and Long Short-Term Memory Networks

IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics ◽

10.1109/jbhi.2021.3073372 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

Dawoon Jung ◽

Jinwook Kim ◽

Miji Kim ◽

Chang Won Won ◽

Kyung-Ryoul Mun

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Gait Characteristics ◽

Long Short Term Memory

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The association of short-term memory and cognitive impairment with ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol levels in non-diabetic and diabetic elderly individuals

Acta Diabetologica ◽

10.1007/s00592-018-1111-5 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 55 (6) ◽

pp. 531-539 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Yu Ming Sang ◽

Li Jun Wang ◽

Hong Xian Mao ◽

Xue Yong Lou ◽

Yi Jun Zhu

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Elderly Individuals ◽

Cortisol Levels

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Clinical diagnosis of LGI1 antibody encephalitis in an 83-year-old woman

BMJ Case Reports ◽

10.1136/bcr-2020-237398 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. e237398

Author(s):

Jonathan E Attwood ◽

Saniya Naseer ◽

Sophia Michael ◽

Josie Riley

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Clinical Diagnosis ◽

Memory Impairment ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Autoimmune Encephalitis ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Blood Tests ◽

Abnormal Movements ◽

History Of

An 83-year-old woman was referred to hospital with a 2-week history of short-lived episodic unpleasant sensations in her head and running down her body. This was accompanied by new short-term memory impairment and arm spasms. Initial investigations including blood tests and brain imaging did not reveal the diagnosis. The patient developed an increasing frequency of abnormal movements of her face and arm. These were clinically recognised as faciobrachial dystonic seizures (FBDS). FBDS are pathognomonic of an autoimmune encephalitis caused by an antibody directed against leucine-rich glioma-inactivated 1 (LGI1). The clinical diagnosis resulted in treatment with immunotherapy, leading to cessation of seizures and rapid cognitive recovery. Later, the predicted serology was confirmed. This reversible and under-recognised cause of cognitive impairment, typically affecting elderly patients, can be diagnosed clinically to enable early and effective treatment.

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A-53 Exploring the Relationship between Spoken Language and Verbal Short-term Memory Assessment Tasks

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acz034.53 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 913-913

Author(s):

M Davis ◽

J Moses ◽

J Rivera ◽

A Guerra ◽

K Hakinson

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Word Association ◽

Five Factor Model ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Principal Component ◽

Spoken Language ◽

Short Term ◽

Factor Solution ◽

Term Memory ◽

Three Factor

Abstract Objective Examine whether performance on spoken language assessment measures may be associated with performance at different phases of verbal learning and recall tasks. Method The assessment records of 222 American Veterans with diverse neuropsychiatric conditions were analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analyses. There were no exclusion criteria. All participants completed the Visual Naming (VisNam), Sentence Repetition (SenRep), Controlled Word Association (COWA), and Token Tests of the Multilingual Aphasia Examination (MAE), and Benton Serial Digit Learning Test – 8 Digits (SDL8). Individual assessment instruments were factored using Principal Component Analyses (PCA). A three-factor solution of the SDL-8 was co-factored with the spoken language components of the MAE to identify common sources of variance. Results A three-factor solution of the SDL8 separated trials into three overlapping factors consisting of early (SDL8_Early), middle (SDL8_Middle), and late (SDL8_Late) trials. Co-factoring the three new scales with the verbal components of the MAE produced a five-factor model explaining 84.563% of the shared variance: 1) SDL8_Early loaded with SenRep, 2) SDL8_Middle loaded with SenRep, 3) SDL8_Late loaded with Token, 4) SDL8_Late loaded with COWA, and 5) VisNam alone formed the fifth factor. Conclusions The results suggest that rote repetition is largely associated with early trials and slightly associated with middle trials, while late trials are largely associated with auditory comprehension and slightly associated with verbal fluency. This may be indicative of a shift in use of spoken language abilities to accommodate increasing levels of complexity in presented verbal short-term memory tasks and thus reflective of a change on learning strategy to optimize performance.

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Increased Contact System Activation in Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients with Impaired Short-Term Memory

Journal of Alzheimer s Disease ◽

10.3233/jad-200343 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pradeep K. Singh ◽

Zu-Lin Chen ◽

Sidney Strickland ◽

Erin H. Norris

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Contact System ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

System Activation

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Short-term memory for tonal and verbal information

The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association ◽

10.4992/pacjpa.75.0_3am114 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 75 (0) ◽

pp. 3AM114-3AM114

Author(s):

Shiho MIYAZAWA ◽

Akihiro TANAKA ◽

Takehiko NISHIMOTO

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Verbal Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

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Rehearsal of Kinesthetic Information in Motor Short-Term Memory

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1976.42.1.99 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 99-104 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

John L. Craft

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Verbal Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Motor Movement ◽

Covert Rehearsal ◽

Kinesthetic Information

Rehearsal of kinesthetic information in motor short-term memory was investigated using a sequential motor movement task. In Exp. 1, the subjects executed 3 blind linear movements and recalled one of them. In Exp. 2, the subjects executed 3 movements while receiving visual and/or verbal information regarding the extent of movement and then recalled one of them. Results indicated that the availability of visual and/or verbal information for covert rehearsal is sufficient to maintain movement extent information in short-term memory but that availability of kinesthetic information alone for covert rehearsal is not.

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