scholarly journals Experiences of hearing aid use among patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease dementia: A qualitative study

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 205031212090457
Author(s):  
Sarah Gregory ◽  
Jo Billings ◽  
Danielle Wilson ◽  
Gill Livingston ◽  
Anne GM Schilder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Hearing Aid Use ◽  
Age Range

Objectives: Hearing aid usage supports communication and independence; however, many do not use their hearing aids. This study explored the experiences of hearing aid use in adults with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease. Methods: Participants completed semi-structured interviews which were analysed using thematic analysis. Ten people (six males, age range 75–86 years old) with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease who had been fitted with hearing aids were recruited to the study. Results: We identified four major themes: (1) memory and other cognitive barriers to using hearing aids, (2) practical aspects of hearing aids, (3) benefits of hearing aids, and (4) ambivalence towards hearing aids. Conclusions: Participants perceived a significant impact of cognitive impairment on the experience of using hearing aids. This population may benefit from targeted strategies to support use of hearing aids. The findings from this study can inform future research to optimise use of hearing aids in this population.

scholarly journals Working Memory and Executive Function Decline across Normal Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer’s Disease

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Mariya Kirova ◽  
Rebecca B. Bays ◽  
Sarita Lagalwar
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Normal Aging ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Neurological Differences

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease marked by deficits in episodic memory, working memory (WM), and executive function. Examples of executive dysfunction in AD include poor selective and divided attention, failed inhibition of interfering stimuli, and poor manipulation skills. Although episodic deficits during disease progression have been widely studied and are the benchmark of a probable AD diagnosis, more recent research has investigated WM and executive function decline during mild cognitive impairment (MCI), also referred to as the preclinical stage of AD. MCI is a critical period during which cognitive restructuring and neuroplasticity such as compensation still occur; therefore, cognitive therapies could have a beneficial effect on decreasing the likelihood of AD progression during MCI. Monitoring performance on working memory and executive function tasks to track cognitive function may signal progression from normal cognition to MCI to AD. The present review tracks WM decline through normal aging, MCI, and AD to highlight the behavioral and neurological differences that distinguish these three stages in an effort to guide future research on MCI diagnosis, cognitive therapy, and AD prevention.

Occurrence of neuropsychiatric symptoms and psychiatric disorders in mild Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment subtypes

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fulvia Di Iulio ◽  
Katie Palmer ◽  
Carlo Blundo ◽  
Anna Rosa Casini ◽  
Walter Gianni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Amnestic Mci

ABSTRACTBackground: Neuropsychiatric disorders are common in cognitively impaired older persons, and associated with institutionalization and caregiver stress in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Few studies have compared the occurrence of both psychiatric disorders and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes. We aimed to investigate the frequency of psychiatric disorders and neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD and MCI patients, compared to controls.Methods: We included 245 outpatients of a memory clinic in Rome, Italy (119 AD; 68 multidomain-MCI; 58 amnestic-MCI) and 107 controls. Categorical disorders of depression and apathy were diagnosed with structured interviews. Symptoms were evaluated with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). The odds ratios (OR) of patients having neuropsychiatric symptoms compared to controls were calculated with logistic regression, adjusted for sociodemographic and clinical variables.Results: A large proportion of AD (49.6%) and multidomain-MCI (44.1%) patients had depression disorder. Apathy disorder was common in AD (51.3%) but less frequent in amnestic-MCI (6.9%) and multidomain-MCI (14.7%). AD patients were three times more likely to have depression disorders (OR = 3.0, CI = 1.1–7.6) or apathy (OR = 16.9, CI = 4.6–61.8) compared to amnestic-MCI, and seven times more likely to have apathy disorder than multidomain-MCI (OR = 7.5, CI = 3.0–19.2). After apathy and depression, the most prevalent neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD and MCI were anxiety, agitation, irritability, night-time behaviors, and appetite disturbances. There was an increasing prevalence of many neuropsychiatric symptoms with increasing severity of cognitive syndromes.Conclusions: Clinicians should consider the relevance of neuropsychiatric disorders and symptoms in patients with cognitive disturbances, and incorporate a thorough psychiatric examination in the evaluation of patients.

The impact of hearing impairment and hearing aid use on progression to mild cognitive impairment in cognitively healthy adults: a longitudinal study of 5721 participants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magda Bucholc ◽  
Sarah Bauermeister ◽  
Daman Kaur ◽  
Paula McClean ◽  
Stephen Todd
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Hearing Aid Use ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The increasing prevalence of dementia in older adults warrants attention to the identification of practices that can delay or reduce likelihood of progression to early forms of cognitive impairment, in particular, to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) which is often considered a transitional stage between healthy aging and dementia. In this study, we investigated the effect of hearing impairment and hearing aid usage on cognitive decline and progression to MCI in cognitively healthy individuals. We used data from a large referral-based cohort obtained from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center. The baseline sample included 5721 cognitively normal subjects aged ≥ 40. We found that hearing impairment was associated with increased risk of progression to MCI (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.40, 95%CI, 1.16-1.68, false discovery rate [FDR] P < 0.001) and an accelerated rate of cognitive decline (P < 0.001). Among hearing-impaired participants, hearing aid users were less likely to develop MCI (HR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.23-0.47; FDR P < 0.001) and experienced slower cognitive decline (P = 0.004) when compared to those not using hearing aids. We found no statistically significant differences in risk of conversion to MCI between individuals with normal hearing and hearing-impaired adults using hearing aids (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.99-1.50; FDR P = 0.08). Our findings highlight the need for a randomized clinical trial that will allow us to investigate whether there is a causal relationship between hearing loss, hearing aid use, and conversion to MCI. Such knowledge could provide new and novel insights into prevention of cognitive impairment and dementia.

Neuropsychological Contributions to the Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment Associated With Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
pp. 52-82
Author(s):  
Joel Eppig ◽  
Madeleine Werhane ◽  
Emily C. Edmonds ◽  
Lisa-Delano Wood ◽  
Katherine J. Bangen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Diagnostic Errors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Actuarial Methods ◽  
Diagnostic Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Prodromal Dementia

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has long been conceptualized as a transitional stage between normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementia subtypes, thus providing a potential window for early intervention in at-risk older adults. Nonetheless, effective intervention requires accurate identification of prodromal dementia, and the criteria for MCI have undergone significant evolution over the last 30 years to improve diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. There is increasing recognition of heterogeneous neuropsychological presentations in MCI. When traditional diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of MCI have been applied a body of research employing statistical algorithms consistently demonstrated the existences of 3 to 4 unique MCI subtypes. Importantly, one subgroup that has emerged across studies involves a sizeable minority of participants that are cognitively normal on comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. These false-positives have highlighted the susceptibility of traditional Petersen/Winblad MCI criteria to diagnostic errors and demonstrated the need for developing of neuropsychological paradigms for MCI classification, and a new set of comprehensive MCI criteria using actuarial methods has been proposed. Accumulating evidence indicates that these comprehensive criteria pose an advantage over conventional criteria in the accurate identification of prodromal dementia and capture the neuropsychological and biological heterogeneity of MCI. Future research should expand on early work examining the association between empirical MCI subtypes and biological, neuroimaging, and genetic markers of AD.

scholarly journals Association of the use of hearing aids with the conversion from mild cognitive impairment to dementia and progression of dementia: a longitudinal retrospective study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magda Bucholc ◽  
Paula L. McClean ◽  
Sarah Bauermeister ◽  
Stephen Todd ◽  
Xuemei Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Hearing Aid Use ◽  
Incident Dementia

AbstractINTRODUCTIONHearing aid usage has been linked to improvements in cognition, communication, and socialization, but the extent to which it can affect the incidence and progression of dementia is unknown. Such research is vital given the high prevalence of dementia and hearing impairment in older adults, and the fact that both conditions often coexist. In this study, we examined for the first time the effect of the use of hearing aids on the conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia and progression of dementia.METHODSWe used a large referral-based cohort of 2114 hearing-impaired patients obtained from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center. Survival analyses using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model and weighted Cox regression model with censored data were performed to assess the effect of hearing aid use on the risk of conversion from MCI to dementia and risk of death in hearing-impaired participants. Disease progression was assessed with CDR® Dementia Staging Instrument Sum of Boxes (CDRSB) scores. Three types of sensitivity analyses were performed to validate the robustness of the results.RESULTSMCI participants that used hearing aids were at significantly lower risk of developing all-cause dementia compared to those not using hearing aids (hazard ratio [HR] 0.73, 95%CI, 0.61-0.89; false discovery rate [FDR] P=0.004). The mean annual rate of change (standard deviation) in CDRSB scores for hearing aid users with MCI was 1.3 (1.45) points and significantly lower than for individuals not wearing hearing aids with a 1.7 (1.95) point increase in CDRSB per year (P=0.02). No association between hearing aid use and risk of death was observed. Our findings were robust subject to sensitivity analyses.DISCUSSIONAmong hearing-impaired adults, hearing aid use was independently associated with reduced dementia risk. The causality between hearing aid use and incident dementia should be further tested.HighlightsHigh prevalence of dementia and hearing impairment in older adultsHearing aid (HA) use associated with a lower risk of incident dementiaSlower cognitive decline in users than non-users of HA with mild cognitive impairmentThe relationship between hearing impairment and dementia should be further tested

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