COVID-19 mitigating factor in self-perceived cognitive decline for older adults

Key takeaways:

• Data from 8,500 adults were analyzed for memory decline in relation to COVID-19.
• Higher risk in cognitive worsening after COVID-19 was found in older men with poorer social activity who have self-perceived decline.

In a cohort of older adults, the COVID-19 pandemic was a mitigating factor in self-perceived cognitive decline, the presence of which indicated a higher risk factor for worsening cognitive function in the year following the pandemic.

“Subjective cognitive complaints and their indexed score, Cognitive Function Index, are known as important markers of cognitive decline, development of dementia, and the pathological basis of Alzheimer’s disease,” Kenichiro Sato, MD, PhD, a research associate in the department of neuropathology in the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Tokyo, and colleagues wrote in a poster presentation at CTAD.

As subjective cognitive complaints have been quantified under the Cognitive Function Index (CFI), Sato and colleagues sought to investigate the contribution of self-perceived memory decline and its relationship with COVID-19, to actual cognitive change one year after pandemic onset, to properly calibrate CFI as a predictive tool.

They analyzed data of approximately 8,500 older adults from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, a representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States who were interviewed annually between 2011 and 2022.

The researchers utilized mixed models to examine the effect of self-perceived memory decline in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic on cognitive function, along with conducting zero-inflated Poisson regression and consideration of covariates such as age, sex, sociodemographic information, comorbidities and degree of physical and social activities.

Results showed that higher risk of worsening cognitive function in the year following the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly associated with higher age, being male and a race other than white, having a lower level of education, poorer social activity, depressive symptoms, a lower annual income or possessing self-perceived memory decline.

“(CFI) may be a useful marker widely and consistently applicable to general population as one of the simple prediction markers of cognitive decline,” Sato and colleagues wrote.