The Association Between Familial Risk and Brain Abnormalities Is Disease Specific: An ENIGMA-Relatives Study of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Background: Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share genetic liability, and some structural brain abnormalities are common to both conditions. First-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia (FDRs-SZ) show similar brain abnormalities to patients, albeit with smaller effect sizes. Imaging findings in first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder (FDRs-BD) have been inconsistent in the past, but recent studies report regionally greater volumes compared with control subjects. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of global and subcortical brain measures of 6008 individuals (1228 FDRs-SZ, 852 FDRs-BD, 2246 control subjects, 1016 patients with schizophrenia, 666 patients with bipolar disorder) from 34 schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder family cohorts with standardized methods. Analyses were repeated with a correction for intracranial volume (ICV) and for the presence of any psychopathology in the relatives and control subjects. Results: FDRs-BD had significantly larger ICV (d = +0.16, q <.05 corrected), whereas FDRs-SZ showed smaller thalamic volumes than control subjects (d = −0.12, q <.05 corrected). ICV explained the enlargements in the brain measures in FDRs-BD. In FDRs-SZ, after correction for ICV, total brain, cortical gray matter, cerebral white matter, cerebellar gray and white matter, and thalamus volumes were significantly smaller; the cortex was thinner (d < −0.09, q <.05 corrected); and third ventricle was larger (d = +0.15, q <.05 corrected). The findings were not explained by psychopathology in the relatives or control subjects. Conclusions: Despite shared genetic liability, FDRs-SZ and FDRs-BD show a differential pattern of structural brain abnormalities, specifically a divergent effect in ICV. This may imply that the neurodevelopmental trajectories leading to brain anomalies in schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are distinct

Processing speed predicts SuperAging years later

Background: SuperAging is one of the current concepts related to elite, resilient or high-functioning cognitive aging. The main aim of our study was to find possible predictors of SuperAgers (SA). Methods: Community-dwelling older persons (N = 96) aged 80–101 years in 2018 were repeatedly tested (year 2012 and 2018). SA were defined based on their performance in 2018 as persons of 80+ years of age who recalled ≥ 9 words in the delayed recall of the Philadelphia Verbal Learning Test, and had a normal performance in non-memory tasks [the Boston Naming Test, the Trail Making Test Part B, and Category Fluency (“Animals”)], which was defined as a score within or above one standard deviation from the age and education appropriate average. Three composite scores (CS; immediate memory, processing speed, and executive functions) were created from the performance in 2012, and analysed as possible predictors of SA status in 2018. Results: We identified 19 SA (15 females) and 77 nonSA (42 females), groups did not significantly differ in age, years of education, and sex. The logistic regression model (p = 0.028) revealed three predictors of SA from the baseline (year 2012), including processing speed (p = 0.006; CS-speed: the Prague Stroop Test—Dots and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test), sex (p = 0.015), and age (p = 0.045). Conclusions: Thus, SA may be predicted based on the level of processing speed, which supports the hypothesis of the processing speed theory of healthy aging

Cognitive Superaging

The goals of this study are 1) to explain the difference between the roles of cognitive reserve and cognitive maintenance in older adults, and 2) to describe cognitive superaging beyond memory superaging, and 3) to find about relation with several physical health-related factors

Changes in Cognitive Impairment in the Czech Republic.

BACKGROUND: Studies from North America and Western Europe suggest stable or declining trends in impaired cognition across birth cohorts. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine changes in the age-specific prevalence of cognitive impairment in the Czech Republic. METHODS: The study used two samples from the population-based Czech Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Age-specific prevalence of cognitive impairment (defined based on scores in verbal fluency, immediate recall, delayed recall, and temporal orientation) was compared between participants in wave 2 (2006/2007; n = 1,107) and wave 6 (2015; n = 3,104). Logistic regression was used to estimate the association between the wave and cognitive impairment, step-wise adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Multiple sensitivity analyses, focusing on alternative operationalizations of relative cognitive impairment, impact of missing cognitive data, and survival bias, were carried out. RESULTS: The most conservative estimate suggested that the age-specific prevalence of cognitive impairment declined by one fifth, from 11% in 2006/2007 to 9% in 2015. Decline was observed in all sensitivity analyses. The change was associated with differences in physical inactivity, management of high blood cholesterol, and increases in length education. CONCLUSION: Older adults in the Czech Republic, a country situated in the Central and Eastern European region, have achieved positive developments in cognitive aging. Longer education, better management of cardiovascular factors, and reduced physical inactivity seem to be of key importance.The present study was supported by Czech Alzheimer Foundation

Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and its short form GAI-SF: Czech normative study

Objectives. The aim of this study is to examine psychometric properties (reliability, intercorrelations, distribution of scores, analyze the items, influence of demographic variables) and present the percentile norms of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and its short form GAI-SF, which focus on detecting anxiety in older persons.Sample and setting. 485 mentally healthy persons older than 60 years of age from 12 regions of the Czech Republic have passed the GAI, which, using 20 items with Yes and No answers, examines anxiety in older individuals. The influence of age, education and sex was examined.Statistical analyses. Data were analyzed with Spearman's and point-biserial correlation coefficients, tetrachoric correlations, Mann-Whitney U test and McDonald's omega.Results. Statistical analysis revealed the effect of sex on the GAI and GAI-SF results, which is in line with the theory that women are more anxious. The influence of education and age was not significant. The study provides normative GAI and GAI-SF data on a large sample of older persons from the Czech population adjusted by sex.Study limitations. The main limits of the study are non-administering of both versions but only the full version of GAI from which GAI-SF results were extracted, and examination of nonclinical sample

Subjective Cognitive Complaints in Cognitively Healthy Older Adults and Their Relationship to Cognitive Performance and Depressive Symptoms

Background: Subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs) may be an early marker of prodromal Alzheimer’s disease. Objectives: Using a 10-item yes/no SCCs questionnaire (Le Questionnaire de Plainte Cognitive [QPC]), we evaluated the prevalence and distribution of SCCs in cognitively healthy Czech older adults and examined total score and specific QPC items in relation to depressive symptomology and cognitive performance. Methods: A sample of 340 cognitively healthy older community-dwelling volunteers aged 60 or older from the third wave of the longitudinal project National Normative Study of Cognitive Determinants of Healthy Aging, who underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and completed the QPC and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). Regression analysis was controlled for age when GDS-15 was the outcome and for age and GDS-15 with cognitive domains as the outcome. Results: 71% reported 1 + SCCs, with prevalence of individual complaints ranging from 4% to 40%. The number of SCCs was associated with GDS-15 (p \u3c 0.001). Personality change (p \u3c 0.001) and Limitation in daily activities (p = 0.002) were significantly associated with higher GDS-15 score and Spatial orientation difficulties (p = 0.019) and Impression of worse memory in comparison to peers (p = 0.012) were significantly associated with lower memory performance. Conclusions: We identified some cognitive complaints that were very common in our sample. Overall, a higher number of SCCs in well cognitively functioning individuals was most closely related to depressive symptomatology, while some specific complaints reflected lower memory performance and should be considered when screening for people at risk of cognitive decline

Supplemental_Material – Supplemental material for Determining a Short Form Montreal Cognitive Assessment (s-MoCA) Czech Version: Validity in Mild Cognitive Impairment Parkinson’s Disease and Cross-Cultural Comparison

<p>Supplemental material, Supplemental_Material for Determining a Short Form Montreal Cognitive Assessment (s-MoCA) Czech Version: Validity in Mild Cognitive Impairment Parkinson’s Disease and Cross-Cultural Comparison by Ondrej Bezdicek, Markéta Červenková, Tyler M. Moore, Hana Stepankova Georgi, Zdenek Sulc, David A. Wolk, Daniel A. Weintraub, Paul J. Moberg, Robert Jech, Miloslav Kopecek and David R. Roalf in Assessment</p