Shota Suzumura

A BSTRACT Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic prompted widespread restrictions on daily activities, leading to concerns over delayed medical consultations. However, limited social interaction outside the home may have increased the time family members spent with older adults, potentially facilitating earlier detection of dementia symptoms. This study aimed to examine changes in dementia severity, cognitive function, and caregiver burden at initial visits to a memory clinic before and during the pandemic and compare the patterns of initial visits to outpatient memory clinics. Materials and Methods: In total, 378 patient-family pairs (200 before and 178 during the pandemic) were evaluated at their first clinic visit. Cognitive function, dementia severity, and caregiver burden were assessed. Group comparisons were conducted using the Mann-Whitney U and χ ² tests. Results: While cognitive test scores and caregiver burden were similar between the two periods, patients who visited during the pandemic exhibited significantly lower dementia severity (clinical dementia rating: P = 0.001). The correlation between observed dementia severity and cognitive function remained strong in both periods. Conclusion: Contrary to expectations of delayed care, the pandemic period was associated with earlier clinical visits for patients with milder dementia. These results suggest that increased contact between family members and patients provided more frequent opportunities for support and intervention, which prevented a decline in activities of daily living among patients with the same cognitive impairment.

ABSTRACT Aim This study aimed to estimate the relationship between finger function and cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods Patients diagnosed with AD at the Outpatient Center for Comprehensive Care and Research on Memory Disorder of the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology underwent a 15‐s bimanual alternating tapping task to measure finger movements. After finger movement measurements, we classified the severity of AD into mild and moderate and compared the finger movements. The Mann–Whitney U test and effect size were used to compare parameter values between the two groups (mild and moderate AD), and the calculated p values were corrected using the Bonferroni method. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the association between finger parameters and cognitive function (Mini‐Mental Examination [MMSE]). Results Data from 163 patients with AD were analyzed. When comparing finger parameters between the mild AD (64 individuals) and moderate AD (99 individuals) groups, the moderate AD group demonstrated fewer taps (p = 0.005; r = 0.22) and a longer interval between taps with the thumb and index finger (p = 0.007; r = 0.21) than the mild AD group. The correlation between the MMSE score and finger function was weakly positive for the number of taps and weakly negative for the average of tapping interval. Conclusions These parameters reflect the decline in finger function associated with the advanced stages of dementia and may help assess the severity of AD. Additionally, these findings may have clinical utility in assessing the severity of AD, potentially enhancing diagnostic accuracy for differentiating stages of AD.