Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults with Dementia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Miharu Nakanishi; Asao Ogawa; Mai Sakai; Hatsumi Yoshii; Mitsuhiro Miyashita; Syudo Yamasaki; Atsushi Nishida

doi:10.3233/ADR-230019

Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults with Dementia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

J Alzheimers Dis Rep. 2023 Apr 20;7(1):307-315. doi: 10.3233/ADR-230019. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Miharu Nakanishi^{1

2}, Asao Ogawa³, Mai Sakai¹, Hatsumi Yoshii¹, Mitsuhiro Miyashita², Syudo Yamasaki², Atsushi Nishida²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai-shi, Miyagi, Japan.
² Research Center for Social Science & Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Division of Psycho-Oncology, Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba, Japan.

Abstract

This study examined the longitudinal association between dementia, activity participation, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic period, and 1-year mental health changes. We obtained data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study in the United States. We included 4,548 older adult participants of two or more survey rounds between 2018 and 2021. We identified baseline dementia status, and assessed depressive symptoms and anxiety at baseline and follow-up. Dementia and poor activity participation were independently associated with an increased prevalence of depressive symptoms and anxiety. Dementia care and support should address emotional and social needs under continued public health restrictions.

Keywords: Activity participation; Alzheimer’s disease; COVID-19; anxiety; dementia; depression.