IntroductionDementia impacts over 55 million individuals globally, creating a pressing public health concern characterized by cognitive and functional decline beyond typical aging. As highlighted by the World Alzheimer Report (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2022) and the World Health Organization in 2022 (WHO, 2022), dementia is a principal cause of disability, dependence, and death among the elderly. Its repercussions, both personally and socially, vary in magnitude, often reflecting the inequality gradients of the respective nations. Today’s research in aging, dementia, and other brain diseases is moving away from one-size-fits-all models to embrace multifaceted, heterogeneity-aware, and diversity-driven paradigms (Alladi and Hachinski, 2018; Parra et al., 2018; Dehghani et al., 2021; Parra et al., 2021; Frisoni et al., 2022; Ibanez, 2022; Moguilner et al., 2022; Parra et al., 2022; Ibanez and Zimmer, 2023; Maito et al., 2023; Santamaria-Garcia et al., 2023). This dynamic evoluti

BackgroundExergames provide a promising new approach to implement simultaneous motor–cognitive training, which may support preventing the decline in cognitive functioning in older adults who have a mild neurocognitive disorder (mNCD).ObjectivesTo evaluate feasibility, system usability, and acceptance of “Brain-IT”, a newly developed training concept combining exergame-based motor-cognitive training and heart rate variability (HRV) guided resonance breathing for the secondary prevention of mNCD.MethodsA pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with an allocation ratio of 2:1 (i.e., intervention:control) was conducted. The control group proceeded with usual care. The intervention group performed a 12-week training according to the “Brain-IT” training concept implemented with the “Senso Flex” (Dividat AG) exergaming system in addition to usual care. Feasibility and usability outcomes were analyzed using descriptive statistics. User acceptance was analyzed qualitatively and using Friedman a

In the South Korean study to prevent cognitive impairment and protect BRAIN health through lifestyle intervention in at-risk elderly people (SUPERBRAIN), we evaluated the impact of a 24-week facility-based multidomain intervention (FMI) and home-based MI (HMI) on white matter integrity. Among 152 participants, aged 60–79 years without dementia but with ≥1 modifiable dementia risk factor, 19 FMI, 20 HMI, and 16 controls underwent brain MRI at baseline and 24 weeks. Between the intervention and control groups, we compared changes in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD) and radial diffusivity (RD) at regions-of-interest (ROI) including the cingulum cingulate gyrus (CgC), cingulum hippocampus (CgH), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), as well as the uncinate fasciculus (UF). In addition, correlations between total and standard scores cognitive domains of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) or serum brain-de

The study evaluated the connectedness of spontaneous speech production in individuals with dementia as a potential predictor of dementia severity. Data were derived from the baseline sample of 143 individuals with dementia in the English Pitt corpus. Dementia severity was assessed via the Mini Mental Status Exam, the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, and the Blessed Dementia Scale. Language abilities were evaluated using verbal fluency and picture description tasks. Graph analysis was carried out for the picture description task using the computational tool SpeechGraphs to calculate connectedness. Results demonstrated that higher educational attainment, higher verbal fluency and strongly-connected spontaneous speech were associated with better cognitive function. Results suggest that automated language processing approaches, such as graph structure analysis, may provide a faster and ecologically valid method of detecting dementia symptoms.

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is the initial stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Early identification of SCD and its risk factors is of great importance for targeted interventions and for delaying the onset of AD. We reviewed the relevant literature on structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and other techniques regarding SCD research in recent years. This study applied sMRI and fMRI techniques to explore abnormal brain structures and functions, which may help provide a basis for SCD diagnosis.

BackgroundHearing loss, cognitive impairment and dementia have become common problems for older adults. Currently, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the association between age-related hearing loss (ARHL) with cognitive impairment and dementia may have inconsistent results. To explore and validate the association between ARHL with cognitive impairment and dementia through summarizing and evaluating existing evidence.MethodsFrom inception to February 01, 2023, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched. AMSTAR 2 was used to evaluate methodological quality and GRADE system was used to evaluate evidence quality. We summarized the basic characteristics of the included studies and extracted effect data for ARHL with cognitive impairment and dementia. Forest plots were used to describe the relative risk associated with ARHL and cognitive impairment, and the relative risk associated with ARHL and dementia, respectively.ResultsA total of 1

IntroductionThis study aims to investigate the health factors associated with cognitive frailty in frail and pre-frail older adults living in the community.MethodsA total of 233 older adults meeting Fried’s criteria for pre-frailty or frailty were included. Cognitive status was evaluated using the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire. Health factors encompassed nutritional status (evaluated using the Mini Nutritional Assessment tool, body mass index, and waist, arm, and leg circumferences), physical function (assessed with the Short Physical Performance Battery), quality of life (measured with the total index of the EuroQoL 5-Dimension 5-Level questionnaire – EQoL-Index -, and the Visual-Analogue Scale – QoL-VAS – for today’s health state), as well as sleep, physical activity, and inactivity estimated through wrist-worn accelerometers. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify potential predictors of cognitive frailty, considering age as a confounding

BackgroundVertigo and hearing loss are both prevalent in the elderly. This study retrospectively analyzed hearing test results from elderly patients experiencing vertigo and dizziness at ENT outpatient over a 10-year period, in order to study the patterns of hearing loss in this patient population.MethodsNine thousand three hundred eighty four patients over 50 years old underwent retrospective collection and screening of outpatient diagnosis, pure tone audiometry, acoustic immittance measurement (tympanogram) and auditory brainstem response (ABR) test. The patient’s audiograms are divided into 7 subtypes according to a set of fixed criteria. Meanwhile, K-Means clustering analysis method was used to classify the audiogram.ResultsThe Jerger classification of tympanogram in elderly patients with vertigo and dizziness showed the majority falling under type A. The leading audiogram shapes were flat (27.81% in right ear and 26.89% in left ear), high-frequency gently sloping (25.97% in right

ObjectivesThis systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to provide an analysis of the published data about the effects of cognitive behavioral therapies on the depression of older adults with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.MethodsThis study was performed following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The search was performed between March and April 2023, using four electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Cinhal and Scopus. Different keywords combined with Boolean operators were utilized. Only 11 articles were included out of the initial 212.ResultsCognitive behavioral therapy was found to reduce depression in individuals with Alzheimer’s, including treatments with low frequency but a longer intervention time.ConclusionThis systematic review and meta-analysis found that the psychosocial therapy cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in improving depression in individuals with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. However, results are inconclusive due to the disparity of the findings