Cognitive Health Assessment and Establishment of a Virtual Cohort of Dementia Caregivers

Risk Factors of Cognitive Decline in Older Caregivers With HIV: An Emerging Hypothesis

ABSTRACT

People with HIV (PWH) are living longer and healthier lives; thanks to combination antiretroviral therapy. As many PWH age, they find themselves providing care to family members and friends, just as their counterparts without HIV. The literature indicates that becoming a caregiver creates conditions that compromise one's cognitive function. Additionally, nearly 45% of all PWH experience HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder and are already vulnerable to cognitive impairment due to HIV, aging, and accompanying health conditions, and lifestyle factors. Given what is known, we assert that caregivers with HIV, especially as they age, are at additional risk for developing cognitive impairments. The purpose of this commentary was to briefly examine the juxtaposition between cognitive vulnerability of caregiving and the cognitive vulnerability of aging with HIV. Potential factors contributing to impaired cognition include stress, lack of social support, stigma, lifestyle, and comorbidities. Implications for clinical practice and research are provided.

Distance Assessment for Detecting Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults: A Systematic Review of Psychometric Evidence

INTRODUCTION

Distance or remote cognitive assessments, administered via phone or computer platforms, have emerged as possible alternatives to traditional assessments performed during office visits. Distance refers to any nontraditional assessment feature, not only or necessarily location. We conducted a systematic review to examine the psychometric soundness of these approaches.

METHOD

We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, AgeLine, and Academic Search Premier for articles published between January 2008 and June 2020. Studies were included if participants were over the age of 50, a structured assessment of cognitive function in older adults was evaluated, the assessment method was deemed distant, and validity and/or reliability data were reported. Assessment distance was defined as having any of the following features: use of an electronic test interface, nonroutine test location (e.g., home), test self-administered, and test unsupervised. Distance was categorized as low, intermediate, or high.

RESULTS/DISCUSSION

Twenty-six studies met inclusion criteria. Sample sizes ranged from n = 8 to 8,627, and the mean age ranged from 57 to 83. Assessments included screens, brief or full batteries, and were performed via videoconferencing, phone, smartphone, or tablet/computer. Ten studies reported on low distance, 11 on intermediate distance, and 5 studies for high distance assessments. Invalid performance data were observed with older age and cognitive impairment. Convergent validity data were reported consistently and suggested a decline with increasing distance: r = 0.52-0.80 for low, 0.49-0.75 for intermediate, and 0.41-0.53 for high distance. Diagnostic validity estimates presented a similar pattern. Reliability data were reported too inconsistently to allow evaluation.

CONCLUSION

The validity of cognitive assessments with older adults appears supported at lower but not higher distance. Less is known about the reliability of such assessments. Future research should delineate the person and procedure boundaries for valid and reliable test results.

"It's Been a Hard Day's Night": Sleep Problems in Caregivers for Older Adults

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This paper critically evaluates literature from the last three years on sleep in caregivers for older adults. Research is evaluated in four main areas: factors related to caregivers having sleep problems, sleep health in various types of caregivers, how caregivers' sleep and health inter-relate, and interventions to improve sleep.

RECENT FINDINGS

A range of both care recipients' and caregivers' characteristics have been associated with caregiver sleep quality measured subjectively and objectively. Care recipient factors associated with caregiver sleep quality include fall risk and sleep quality, while caregiver factors include stress, duration, intensity, provision of medical/nursing care tasks, and even particular serotonin genotypes (e.g. short allele carriers for 5-HTTLPR). While the greatest focus has been on dementia caregivers, recent work suggests groups such as end-of-life caregivers, former caregivers, and caregivers with multiple care roles (e.g. child, older adult, paid care) have sleep disturbances that vary by their unique contexts. Caregiver's sleep, particularly subjective assessments, relates to their mood and physiological well-being; and evidence suggests that sleep may be an important mediator linking care stressors with mental health. Factors such as mindfulness and sense of coherence may protect caregivers from sleep disturbances.

Neuropsychological consequences of chronic stress: the case of informal caregivers

Introduction: Caring for a family member with a long-term illness is a significant source of chronic stress that might significantly accelerate the cognitive ageing of informal caregivers. Nevertheless, the absence of a defined theoretical body of literature on the neuropsychology of this population makes it difficult to understand what the characteristic neuropsychological deficits of these caregivers are.Aims: The main aim of this study is to carry out a systematic review of studies of cognitive deficits present in informal caregivers of people with several chronic pathologies, and analyse the effects of cognitive-behavioural interventions on caregivers' cognition.Methods: The scientific literature was reviewed following the PRISMA quality criteria for reviews using the following digital databases: PubMEd, PsycINFO, and Dialnet.Results: Identification of 2046 abstracts and retrieval of 211 full texts led to the inclusion of 38 papers. The studies showed heterogeneous results, but most of the cross-sectional studies reviewed that employed neuropsychological assessments concluded that informal caregivers reported a generalized cognitive deterioration, especially memory dysfunctions (i.e. learning verbal, visuospatial, and digit information). Moreover, they also presented low selective attention and capacity for inhibition, along with slow processing speed. Longitudinal studies confirmed that caregivers whose care situation was more prolonged showed a marked deterioration in their overall cognitive state, memory, processing speed, and vocabulary richness. However, although the patient's death does not seem to reverse the neuropsychological alterations in caregivers, cognitive-behavioural interventions that employ techniques to reduce stress levels, cognitive biases, and inadequate adaptation schemas seem to improve some of the aforementioned cognitive abilities.Conclusions: Results from this synthesis and critical analysis of neuropsychological deficits in informal caregivers offer guidelines for diagnosing caregivers' cognitive status by including a test battery covering all the domains considered relevant. Finally, given the ability of cognitive behavioural interventions to improve cognition in caregivers, further studies on their long-term effects on caregivers are warranted.Chronic stress entails an acceleration of the cognitive ageingCross-sectional studies concluded that informal caregivers reported a generalized cognitive deteriorationCognitive-behavioural interventions seem to improve cognitive abilities of caregivers.

Sleep Duration and Sleep Quality in Caregivers of Patients With Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

IMPORTANCE

In the United States, 16 million family caregivers provide long-term care for patients with dementia. Although one's physical, mental, and cognitive health depends on sleep, many caregivers experience chronic stress, and stress is typically associated with worse sleep quantity and quality.

OBJECTIVE

To quantify the extent, nature, and treatability of sleep problems in dementia caregivers.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed and Scopus databases were systematically searched for articles published through June 2018 using the following keywords: caregiver or spouse or caretaker AND sleep or circadian AND dementia or Alzheimer. Backward citation tracking was performed, and corresponding authors were contacted for additional data to conduct meta-analyses and pooled analyses.

STUDY SELECTION

Two reviewers independently screened 805 studies to identify those that reported sleep duration or sleep quality in caregivers of patients with dementia.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Following the PRISMA guidelines, 2 reviewers independently extracted data from all studies and conducted National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute study quality assessments. Meta-analyses with random-effects models were performed to evaluate sleep duration, sleep quality, and sleep interventions in dementia caregivers.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Sleep quality and total sleep time were measured by polysomnography, actigraphy, and self-report.

RESULTS

Thirty-five studies were analyzed with data from 3268 caregivers (pooled mean age [SD of sample means], 63.48 [5.99] years; 76.7% female) were analyzed. Relative to age-matched control noncaregiver adults, caregivers had lower sleep durations akin to losing 2.42 to 3.50 hours each week (Hedges g = -0.29; 95% CI, -0.48 to -0.09; P = .01). Sleep quality was significantly lower in caregivers (Hedges g = -0.66; 95% CI, -0.89 to -0.42; P < .001), but caregivers who underwent sleep intervention trials had better sleep quality than caregivers who did not receive a sleep intervention (Hedges g = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.20-0.49; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Sleep debt is known to have cumulative associations with physical, mental, and cognitive health; therefore, poor sleep quality in dementia caregivers should be recognized and addressed. Although the caregiving role is stressful and cognitively demanding by its nature, better sleep quality was observed in caregivers who received low-cost behavioral interventions.

Behavioral health characteristics of a technology-enabled sample of Alzheimer's caregivers with high caregiver burden

BACKGROUND

Caregivers of persons with dementia/Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience considerable physical and psychological burdens associated with their caregiving role. Although mobile technologies have the potential to deliver caregiver supports, it is necessary to demonstrate that caregivers in need of these supports are technology-enabled, that they can be identified and accessed, and that they experience the same unfavorable mental health outcomes characteristic of the broader caregiving population. Our objective was to enroll a cohort of technology-enabled caregivers to determine basic demographic characteristics and assess level of caregiver burden, depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance as part of a larger project to deliver caregiver support.

METHODS

Web-based enrollment and data collection measuring caregiver burden with the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), anxiety and depression with the M-3, and sleep disturbance with the PROMIS Sleep Disturbance form.

RESULTS

A total of 165 caregivers enrolled via an online portal, all of whom provided care for someone with AD and owned a smart phone. Mean age of this group with 57.9 years, 90.3% was female, 88.5% was White, 51.5% reported providing care for a parent, 9.3% reported providing care for more than 10 years, and 24.8% reported providing more than 100 hours of care each week. Sixty-four percent of caregivers screened positive for both anxiety and depression, and nearly 62% of the sample had moderate or severe caregiver burden. Scores on depression, anxiety, and sleep quality assessments correlated moderately or strongly with caregiver burden.

CONCLUSIONS

Dementia caregivers with Internet and smartphone access demonstrate high levels of caregiver burden, depression, and anxiety, and are well-suited to receive caregiver support services delivered via mobile devices that target these issues.