Article
Clinical Neurology
Behnam Iravani, Elaheh Abdollahi, Fatemeh Eslamdoust-Siahestalkhi, Robabeh Soleimani
Summary: This study assessed the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with Alzheimer's disease and caregiver burden. The results showed a significant correlation between NPS and CB, with apathy being the most common symptom in AD patients.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Taylor A. James, Dara James, Linda K. Larkey
Summary: Informal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease often experience high stress and reduced wellbeing. The Heart Lock-In technique has been shown to reduce stress, but the heart-focused breathing intervention may increase caregiver burden and anxiety.
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Manee Pinyopornpanish, Kanokporn Pinyopornpanish, Atiwat Soontornpun, Surat Tanprawate, Angkana Nadsasarn, Nahathai Wongpakaran, Tinakon Wongpakaran
Summary: This study found that caregiver burden is indirectly associated with patients' neuropsychiatric symptoms through the caregiver's depressive symptoms and perception of stress. Early detection and appropriate interventions can help in reducing and preventing caregiver burden.
Article
Economics
Tim A. Kanters, Jasper J. Brugts, Olivier C. Manintveld, Matthijs M. Versteegh
Summary: Caring for patients with AF involves significant burden, both objectively and subjectively, but can also provide a sense of fulfillment. The time and burden of caregiving are mainly influenced by comorbidities.
Article
Neurosciences
Kristina Rosqvist, Anette Schrag, Per Odin
Summary: This study assessed the quality of life of informal caregivers to patients in the late stage of Parkinson's disease, and found that caregiver quality of life was better associated with female patient gender, better cognition, lower non-motor symptom burden, and not being the partner. Identifying and alleviating caregiver burden, as well as treating non-motor symptoms, seem essential to enhance the quality of life for both patients and caregivers in late stage Parkinson's disease.
Review
Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
Sin Yee Chu, Norhayati Ibrahim, Noh Amit, Abdul Halim Abdul Gafor, Rozmi Ismail, Kai Wei Lee, Ching Sin Siau
Summary: Caregivers for dialysis patients face significant burden and responsibility, making interventions targeting them essential. This review examines interventions implemented among CKD caregivers and their effectiveness in reducing caregiver burden. Nine studies, including RCTs and quasi-experimental studies, were identified through searching major citation databases. Educational programs, supportive programs, family-centered programs, and psychological interventions were reviewed. Evidence suggests that these programs effectively reduce caregiver burden among CKD patients.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Maria Grazia Maggio, Gianluca La Rosa, Patrizia Calatozzo, Adriana Andaloro, Marilena Foti Cuzzola, Antonino Cannavo, David Militi, Alfredo Manuli, Valentina Oddo, Giovanni Pioggia, Rocco Salvatore Calabro
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a public health emergency, causing isolation and social distancing which significantly impacted caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Caregivers perceived high levels of stress and burden, mainly due to physical difficulties and time-dependence burden. They reported low quality of life and mostly used dysfunctional coping strategies like avoidance, which did not affect their stress levels significantly. Innovative tools may be valuable in supporting caregivers during difficult periods like the COVID-19 pandemic.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2021)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rafael del-Pino-Casado, Emilia Priego-Cubero, Catalina Lopez-Martinez, Vasiliki Orgeta
Summary: There is a significant positive association between subjective caregiver burden and anxiety symptoms in informal caregivers. Addressing subjective caregiver burden may help prevent clinically significant anxiety in the growing number of family carers worldwide. Subgroup analyses did not show differences by study design, sampling, control of confounders, or care-recipient characteristics.
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Chantal Huisman, Emelieke Huisman, Helianthe Kort
Summary: The need for care will increase in the coming years. Most people with a disability or old age receive support from an informal caregiver. Caring for a person with dementia can be difficult because of the BPSD. This scoping review investigates whether technology is available to support informal caregivers and reduce the care burden and social isolation for people with dementia. The findings show that there are technology applications that can help lower the care burden and improve sleep quality for informal caregivers.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Isuzu Nakamoto, Hiroshi Murayama, Mai Takase, Yoko Muto, Tami Saito, Takahiro Tabuchi
Summary: This study found that informal caregivers experienced worse mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to non-caregivers, and increased caregiver burden was associated with severe psychological distress. The association between increased caregiver burden and distress was stronger among married caregivers, those undergoing disease treatment, and those caring for individuals with higher care needs.
ARCHIVES OF GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Hirotomo Miyatake, Makoto Kosaka, Satoshi Arita, Chie Tsunetoshi, Hidehisa Masunaga, Yasuhiro Kotera, Yoshitaka Nishikawa, Akihiko Ozaki, Hiroyuki Beniya
Summary: This study examined the use and impact of telemedicine in a home care clinic in Japan. Out of 17 cases, most patients required additional medication or consultation at a medical facility, and videoconferencing was found to be effective in assessing patients' conditions, with 82% of cases showing subsequent improvement in symptoms.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Janneke van Roij, Linda Brom, Dirkje Sommeijer, Lonneke van de Poll-Franse, Natasja Raijmakers
Summary: A significant number of relatives of patients with advanced cancer experienced high caregiver burden. Those with high caregiver burden were less engaged in self-care and resilience, indicating the importance of raising awareness of the potential benefits of self-care. Future studies should further investigate the causal relationship between self-care, resilience, and caregiver burden.
SUPPORTIVE CARE IN CANCER
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Hannah Tough, Martin W. G. Brinkhof, Christine Fekete
Summary: This study examines the moderating and mediating role of different social relationship constructs in the relationship between subjective caregiver burden and health. The results suggest that social support and relationship quality can buffer the negative effects of caregiver burden on mental health. Mediating effects of social relationships were observed for mental health and vitality, supporting the deterioration model. Loneliness was found to be an important construct on the pathway from caregiver burden to health.
Article
Psychiatry
Shadya Monteiro, Margot Fournier, Jerome Favrod, Anne-Laure Drainville, Lea Plessis, Sylvie Freudiger, Krzysztof Skuza, Charlene Tripalo, Nicolas Franck, Marie-Clotilde Lebas, Jocelyn Deloyer, Helene Wilquin, Philippe Golay, Shyhrete Rexhaj
Summary: This study investigates the perceived stress and modulating factors among informal caregivers during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Europe. The findings indicate that higher perceived stress among informal caregivers is associated with the age and family relationship of the care recipient, cohabitation, and gender of the caregiver. Fear of getting ill, belief in the negative impact of lockdowns on health, and perceived deterioration of the care recipient's health partially mediate these associations. The fear of losing the ability to cope with caregiving tasks and the negative impact of lockdown on the mental health of young care recipients increase the stress of informal caregivers.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Yi Wang, Shilpa Tyagi, Helen Hoenig, Kim En Lee, Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian, Edward Menon, Deidre Anne De Silva, Philip Yap, Boon Yeow Tan, Sherry H. Young, Yee Sien Ng, Tian Ming Tu, Yan Hoon Ang, Keng He Kong, Rajinder Singh, Reshma A. Merchant, Hui Meng Chang, Chou Ning, Angela Cheong, Gerald Choon-Huat Koh
Summary: Informal care burden remains high up to 12-months post-stroke, with factors such as functional dependency, stroke severity, informal caregiver gender, and co-caring with foreign domestic workers being associated with informal care burden.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Viktor Gkotzamanis, Giorgos Koliopanos, Albert Sanchez-Niubo, Beatriz Olaya, Francisco Felix Caballero, Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos, Somnath Chatterji, Josep Maria Haro, Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos
Summary: This study identified four latent groups with different trajectories in cognitive performance assessed with the verbal fluency test over a 6-year period. The findings suggest that higher level of education is associated with a more favorable course in cognitive aging, while cardiovascular diseases and depressive symptoms are associated with a worse course. These results indicate that cardiovascular diseases and depressive symptoms could be potential targets for interventions to prevent cognitive decline in the aging population.
APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-ADULT
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Alan E. Kazdin, Chi-Shin Wu, Irving Hwang, Victor Puac-Polanco, Nancy A. Sampson, Ali Al-Hamzawi, Jordi Alonso, Laura Helena Andrade, Corina Benjet, Jose-Miguel Caldas-de-Almeida, Giovanni de Girolamo, Peter de Jonge, Silvia Florescu, Oye Gureje, Josep M. Haro, Meredith G. Harris, Elie G. Karam, Georges Karam, Viviane Kovess-Masfety, Sing Lee, John J. McGrath, Fernando Navarro-Mateu, Daisuke Nishi, Bibilola D. Oladeji, Jose Posada-Villa, Dan J. Stein, T. Bedirhan Ustun, Daniel V. Vigo, Zahari Zarkov, Alan M. Zaslavsky, Ronald C. Kessler
Summary: Antidepressant medications (ADMs) are widely used for a variety of conditions, not only depression and anxiety. The usage rate of ADMs is higher in high-income countries compared to low- and middle-income countries, and newer ADMs are more frequently used in high-income countries. Among users, 58.8% perceive ADMs to be very effective and 28.3% perceive them to be somewhat effective, with these proportions being higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Aina Gabarrell-Pascuet, Mireia Felez-Nobrega, Paula Cristobal-Narvaez, Philippe Mortier, Gemma Vilagut, Beatriz Olaya, Jordi Alonso, Josep Maria Haro, Joan Domenech-Abella
Summary: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the worsening of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and problems related to social relationships has led to an increase in suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This study found that feelings of detachment have a significant impact on mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and social support plays a mediating role in this relationship. Depressive and anxiety symptoms also mediate the association between social support and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Gerontology
Katarzyna Zawisza, Barbara Wozniak, Beata Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Aleksander Galas, Iago Gine-Vazquez, Albert Sanchez-Niubo, Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos, Seppo Koskinen, Matilde Leonardi, Martin Bobak, Josep Maria Haro
Summary: The present article discusses methodological aspects related to understanding and conceptualizing social capital and describes the challenges in harmonizing indicators of social capital. The study reviews social capital theories and documentation of international cohorts and develops decision trees for harmonizing social variables. Known-group validity is verified and the results focus on generalised trust, civic engagement, and social participation. The findings support the construct validity of the harmonized variables.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Louis Jacob, Ai Koyanagi, Josep Maria Haro, Jae Il Shin, Lee Smith, Marcel Konrad, Karel Kostev
Summary: This study investigated the prevalence and factors associated with long-term sick leave in patients newly diagnosed with osteoarthritis from Germany. The results showed a high prevalence of long-term sick leave in this sample.
INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Aina Gabarrell-Pascuet, Ai Koyanagi, Mireia Felez-Nobrega, Paula Cristobal-Narvaez, Philippe Mortier, Gemma Vilagut, Beatriz Olaya, Jordi Alonso, Josep Maria Haro, Joan Domenech-Abella
Summary: During the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults may have a lower risk of common mental disorders compared to younger adults. Age is negatively related to mental disorder symptoms and loneliness. Interventions targeting loneliness could help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on mental health.
PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Mariam Kirvalidze, Giorgi Beridze, Anders Wimo, Lucas Morin, Amaia Calderon-Larranaga
Summary: This study aimed to identify which subgroups of older informal caregivers experience the greatest subjective burden and incur a faster decline in objective health status. The results showed that having a dual role, caring for a spouse, living in the same household as the care receiver, and spending more hours on caregiving were associated with more limitations and burden. In addition, having a dual role and caring for a spouse were associated with a faster decline in health status. Being female and having a poor social network were also associated with an exacerbation of the health decline. Therefore, policymakers and future researchers should consider the heterogeneity among caregivers and the contextual factors when investigating the health impact of informal caregiving.
JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Louis Jacob, Razak M. Gyasi, Ai Koyanagi, Josep Maria Haro, Lee Smith, Karel Kostev
Summary: This study investigated the prevalence and risk factors for adhesive capsulitis in older adults from Germany. The one-year and lifetime prevalence of adhesive capsulitis were assessed in adults aged >= 65 years with visits to general practices in 2021. Associations between physical and psychiatric conditions and adhesive capsulitis were further assessed in older patients diagnosed from 2010-2021 and matched to patients without adhesive capsulitis. The study found that adhesive capsulitis can occur at older age, and osteoarthritis and injuries are major risk factors.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Louis Jacob, Razak M. M. Gyasi, Hans Oh, Lee Smith, Karel Kostev, Guillermo F. Lopez F. Sanchez, Masoud Rahmati, Josep Maria Haro, Mark A. A. Tully, Jae Il Shin, Dong Keon Yon, Ai Koyanagi
Summary: This study found a significant association between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and sarcopenia in older adults from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Analyzing data from six LMICs, the study showed that low LTPA was associated with higher odds of sarcopenia, particularly in women.
JOURNAL OF CACHEXIA SARCOPENIA AND MUSCLE
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Fiorenza Pennacchia, Eqrem Rusi, Wael Abu Ruqa, Maria Antonella Zingaropoli, Patrizia Pasculli, Giuseppina Talarico, Giuseppe Bruno, Christian Barbato, Antonio Minni, Luigi Tarani, Gioacchino Galardo, Francesco Pugliese, Marco Lucarelli, Giampiero Ferraguti, Maria Rosa Ciardi, Marco Fiore
Summary: This study aimed to identify routine blood biomarkers detected at the emergency room for the early prediction of severe morbidity and/or mortality of Omicron-infected patients. The results showed that high-sensitivity troponin-T, fibrinogen, glycemia, C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, albumin, D-dimer myoglobin, and ferritin can predict lethal outcomes at the emergency department.
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Demosthenes Panagiotakos, Victor Gkotzamanis, Josep Maria Haro, Stefanos Tyrovolas
FRONTIERS IN MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Magdalena Kozela, Andrzej Pajak, Krystyna Szafraniec, Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos, Martin Bobak, Wentian Lu, Hynek Pikhart, Maciej Polak, Albert Sanchez-Niubo, Urszula Stepaniak, Josep Maria Haro
Summary: The ATHLOS Healthy Aging Scale is a comprehensive and global measure of healthy aging, which can predict all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older adults.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Yuezhou Zhang, Abhishek Pratap, Amos A. A. Folarin, Shaoxiong Sun, Nicholas Cummins, Faith Matcham, Srinivasan Vairavan, Judith Dineley, Yatharth Ranjan, Zulqarnain Rashid, Pauline Conde, Callum Stewart, Katie M. M. White, Carolin Oetzmann, Alina Ivan, Femke Lamers, Sara Siddi, Carla Hernandez Rambla, Sara Simblett, Raluca Nica, David C. C. Mohr, Inez Myin-Germeys, Til Wykes, Josep Maria Haro, Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, Peter Annas, Vaibhav A. A. Narayan, Matthew Hotopf, Richard J. B. Dobson
Summary: Recent growth in digital technologies has allowed for the recruitment and monitoring of large and diverse populations in remote health studies. However, uneven participant engagement and attrition can affect the generalizability of inference drawn from remotely collected health data. This study examined long-term participant retention and engagement patterns in a large observational digital study for depression, finding distinct patterns and factors associated with retention and engagement in the study.
NPJ DIGITAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Marco Canevelli, Lindsay M. K. Wallace, Giuseppe Bruno, Matteo Cesari, Kenneth Rockwood, David D. Ward
Summary: Frailty is associated with cognitive expression of neuropsychological deficits in older adults, as found in the analysis of data from three large cohort studies. Among participants with higher frailty levels, there was a stronger negative association between neuropsychological deficits and cognitive performance.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Marianna Purgato, Giulia Turrini, Federico Tedeschi, Riccardo Serra, Lorenzo Tarsitani, Beatrice Compri, Giulia Muriago, Camilla Cadorin, Giovanni Ostuzzi, Pablo Nicaise, Vincent Lorant, Marit Sijbrandij, Anke B. B. Witteveen, Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos, Roberto Mediavilla, Josep Maria Haro, Mireia Felez-Nobrega, Natasha Figueiredo, Giulia Pollice, David McDaid, A-La Park, Raffael Kalisch, Papoula Petri-Romao, James Underhill, Richard A. A. Bryant, Michela Nose, Corrado Barbui
Summary: This study aims to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a psychological intervention program tailored for migrant populations. Participants will be randomized into two groups, one receiving usual care and the other receiving a self-help stress management guide and a cognitive behavioral intervention. The study will evaluate the program's impact on anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as other mental health indicators and cost-effectiveness. This study is important for improving the mental health and wellbeing of migrant populations.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)