scholarly journals How can automated linguistic analysis help to discern functional cognitive disorder from healthy controls and mild cognitive impairment?

BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S7-S7
Author(s):  
Lizzie Beavis ◽  
Ronan O'Malley ◽  
Bahman Mirheidari ◽  
Heidi Christensen ◽  
Daniel Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Delayed Diagnosis ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cognitive Disorder ◽  
Remote Memory ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Cross Sectional

AimsThe disease burden of cognitive impairment is significant and increasing. The aetiology of cognitive impairment can be structural, such as in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to early Alzheimer's disease (AD), or in functional cognitive disorder (FCD), where there is no structural pathology. Many people with FCD receive a delayed diagnosis following invasive or costly investigations. Accurate, timely diagnosis improves outcomes across all patients with cognitive impairment. Research suggests that analysis of linguistic features of speech may provide a non-invasive diagnostic tool. This study aimed to investigate the linguistic differences in conversations between people with early signs of cognitive impairment with and without structural pathology, with a view to developing a screening tool using linguistic analysis of conversations.MethodIn this explorative, cross-sectional study, we recruited 25 people with MCI considered likely due to AD, (diagnosed according to Petersen's criteria and referred to as PwMCI), 25 healthy controls (HCs) and 15 people with FCD (PwFCD). Participants’ responses to a standard questionnaire asked by an interactional virtual agent (Digital Doctor) were quantified using previously identified parameters. This paper presents statistical analyses of the responses and a discussion of the results.ResultPwMCI produced fewer words than PwFCD and HCs. The ratio of pauses to speech was generally lower for PwMCI and PwFCD than for HCs. PwMCI showed a greater pause to speech ratio for recent questions (such as ‘what did you do at the weekend?’) compared with the HCs. Those with FCD showed the greatest pause to speech ratio in remote memory questions (such as ‘what was your first job?’). The average age of acquisition of answers for verbal fluency questions was lower in the MCI group than HCs.ConclusionThe results and qualitative observations support the relative preservation of remote memory compared to recent memory in MCI due to AD and decreased spontaneous elaboration in MCI compared with healthy controls and patients with FCD. Word count, age of acquisition and pause to speech ratio could form part of a diagnostic toolkit in identifying those with structural and functional causes of cognitive impairment. Further investigation is required using a large sample.

scholarly journals The Performance of Dual-Task Tests Can Be a Combined Neuro-Psychological and Motor Marker of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Depression and Dementia in Geriatric Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (22) ◽  
pp. 5358
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kasiukiewicz ◽  
Lukasz Magnuszewski ◽  
Marta Swietek ◽  
Zyta Beata Wojszel
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Timed Up And Go ◽  
Geriatric Population ◽  
Cross Sectional

The study aims to assess the performance of dual-task tests in the geriatric population and their association with the cognitive status of the patients. Methods: Patients admitted to the Department of Geriatrics, Hospital of the Ministry of Interior and Administration on Bialystok, Poland, in 2019 and 2020 were enrolled in the study. Data on the patients’ clinical, functional, and cognitive status were collected based on the comprehensive geriatric assessment. Dual-task tests included Timed Up and Go (TUG) test while counting backward (CB7), enumerating animals (EA), and holding a cup (TUG M). Results: 250 patients were included in the study, with a median age of 81.5 years (IQR 76–86) and most above 75 years of age (80.8%). Only 29 (11.6%) of study participants had no cognitive or mood disorders. Depression was diagnosed in 30.4%, MCI in 12%, and dementia in 38.4% of cases with median Mini-Mental Score Evaluation (MMSE) 17 (12–20) points. Dual-task TUG CB7 results did not differ between cognitive conditions of patients. TUG EA differed between healthy controls and other cognitive groups and TUG between healthy controls and depression and dementia, but not mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The performance of all dual-task tests differed in patients with and without dementia. Ability to finish TUG CB7 was low even in the group without dementia. There were statistically significant differences in median scores of MMSE and Clock Drawing Test (CDT) between patients who were able or not to finish single and dual-task gait tests. Conclusion: Dual-task test results and the performance of these tasks can differentiate patients with depression, MCI and dementia compared to healthy controls in the geriatric population.

scholarly journals Correlates of Sleep Disturbance among Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-Sectional Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (13) ◽  
pp. 4862
Author(s):  
Dan Song ◽  
Doris S. F. Yu ◽  
Qiuhua Sun ◽  
Guijuan He
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Sleep Disturbance ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Comorbidity Burden

Individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are at high risk for dementia development. Sleep disturbance is often overlooked in MCI, although it is an important risk factor of cognitive decline. In the absence of a cure for dementia, managing the risk factors of cognitive decline in MCI is likely to delay disease progression. To develop interventions for sleep disturbance in MCI, its related factors should be explored. This study aimed to identify and compare the correlates of sleep disturbance in older adults with MCI and those in cognitively healthy older adults. A comparative cross-sectional study was adopted. Data were obtained from 219 Chinese community-dwelling older adults (female: 70.3%), which consisted of 127 older adults with MCI and 92 age-matched cognitively healthy controls. The candidate correlates of sleep disturbance included socio-demographic correlates, health-related factors, lifestyle-related factors and psychological factor. Descriptive, correlational and regression statistics were used for data analysis. The prevalence of sleep disturbance in MCI was 70.1% compared to that of 56.5% in cognitively healthy controls (p < 0.001). The multivariate analysis indicated that, in participants with MCI, depressive symptoms (Beta = 0.297, p = 0.001), comorbidity burden (Beta = 0.215, p = 0.012) and physical activity (Beta = −0.297, p = 0.001) were associated with sleep disturbance. However, in the cognitively healthy controls, only depressive symptoms (Beta = 0.264, p = 0.028) and comorbidity burden (Beta = 0.361, p = 0.002) were associated with sleep disturbance. This finding highlights that sleep disturbance is sufficiently prominent to warrant evaluation and management in older adults with MCI. Furthermore, the findings elucidate several important areas to target in interventions aimed at promoting sleep in individuals with MCI.

Association of Dietary Habits with Mild Cognitive Impairment among Elderly in Rural Area of North China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huilian Duan ◽  
Changqing Sun ◽  
Yun Zhu ◽  
Qian Liu ◽  
Yue Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Cooking Oil ◽  
Meal Timing

Background: Recent findings suggest a possible role of diet, particularly nutrient in- takes and dietary patterns, in the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI); few studies, how- ever, have been explicitly devoted to the relationship between dietary habits and MCI. Objectives: We aimed to explore the association between dietary habits, including meal timing, and MCI among older Chinese adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved data collected at the baseline of the Tianjin Elderly Nutrition and Cognition Cohort (TENCC) study, in which 3,111 community-dwelling older adults (326 MCI patients and 2,785 non-MCIs) from a rural area of Tianjin, China, were recruited. In March 2018 to June 2019, all participants underwent a detailed neuropsychological evaluation that allowed for psychometric MCI classification. Information on self-reported dietary behaviors was gathered via face-to-face interviews. Crude and multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression models. Results: In the multivariable-adjusted models, eating breakfast 4 to 6 times per week (vs. ≤3 times per week, OR: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.75), drinking water before breakfast (yes vs. no, OR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.51, 0.82), consuming water ≥1.5L per day (vs. <1.5L per day, OR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.51, 0.82), and having lunch after 12:00 (vs. before 12:00, OR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.75) were associat- ed with decreased risk of MCI. Participants who consumed higher amounts of cooking oil were at a higher risk of MCI (moderate vs. low, OR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.92; high vs. low, OR: 1.40; 95% CI: 1.07-1.83). Conclusion : This study suggests that dietary habits, including breakfast frequency, daily water consumption, cooking oil consumption, and meal timing, may be associated with the risk of MCI. If replicated, these findings would open new possibilities of dietary interventions for MCI.

scholarly journals Impaired abstract thinking may discriminate between normal aging and vascular mild cognitive impairment

2010 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Kenji Sudo ◽  
Gilberto Sousa Alves ◽  
Carlos Eduardo de Oliveira Alves ◽  
Maria Elisa Lanna ◽  
Letice Ericeira-Valente ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cerebrovascular Disease ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Abstract Thinking ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Elderly Individuals ◽  
Healthy Elderly

OBJECTIVE: Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is associated with cognitive deficits. This cross-sectional study examines differences among healthy elderly controls and patients with vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI) and vascular dementia (VaD) in performances on CAMCOG subscales. METHOD: Elderly individuals (n=61) were divided into 3 groups, according to cognitive and neuroimaging status: 16 controls, 20 VaMCI and 25 VaD. VaMCI and VaD individuals scored over 4 points on the Hachinski Ischemic Scale. RESULTS: Significant differences in total CAMCOG scores were observed across the three groups (p<0.001). VaD subjects performed worse than those with VaMCI in most CAMCOG subscales (p<0.001). All subscales showed differences between controls and VaD (p<0.001). Performance on abstract thinking showed difference between VaMCI and controls (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: CAMCOG discriminated controls from VaMCI and VaD. Assessment of abstract thinking may be useful as a screening item for diagnosis of VaMCI.

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