Caregivers experience a higher burden due to disease symptoms such as impairment of functional autonomy and behavioral and cognitive impairment, whatever the etiology of the cognitive decline.

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Older adults experiencing subjective cognitive decline (SCD) have a heightened risk of developing dementia and frequently experience subclinical anxiety, which is itself associated with dementia risk. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> To understand whether subclinical anxiety symptoms in SCD can be reduced through behavioral interventions. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> SCD-Well is a randomized controlled trial designed to determine whether an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention (caring mindfulness-based approach for seniors; CMBAS) is superior to a structurally matched health self-management program (HSMP) in reducing subclinical anxiety. Participants were recruited from memory clinics at 4 European sites. The primary outcome was change in anxiety symptoms (trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; trait-STAI) from pre- to postintervention. Secondary outcomes included a change in state anxiety and depression symptoms postintervention and 6 months postrandomization (follow-up). <b><i>Results:</i></b> One hundred forty-seven participants (mean [SD] age: 72.7 [6.9] years; 64.6% women; CMBAS, <i>n</i> = 73; HSMP, <i>n</i> = 74) were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. There was no difference in trait-STAI between groups postintervention (adjusted change difference: –1.25 points; 95% CI –4.76 to 2.25) or at follow-up (adjusted change difference: –0.43 points; 95% CI –2.92 to 2.07). Trait-STAI decreased postintervention in both groups (CMBAS: –3.43 points; 95% CI –5.27 to –1.59; HSMP: –2.29 points; 95% CI –4.14 to –0.44) and reductions were maintained at follow-up. No between-group differences were observed for change in state anxiety or depression symptoms. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> A time-limited mindfulness intervention is not superior to health self-management in reducing subclinical anxiety symptoms in SCD. The sustained reduction observed across both groups suggests that subclinical anxiety symptoms in SCD are modifiable. <b><i>ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:</i></b> NCT03005652.

No abstract

Objective: The present report aims to evaluate whether singing intervention can bring an immediate benefit that is greater than the one provided by painting intervention on pain and well-being. Methods: Fifty-nine mild patients with Alzheimer disease were randomized to a 12-week singing (n = 31) or painting group (n = 28). In the present analysis, the immediate evolution of pain and well-being was compared across sessions between the 2 groups using mixed-effects models. Results: We observed a significant improvement in well-being for both singing and painting groups immediately after sessions, compared to the assessment before the sessions. We did not observe this improvement across the sessions for pain intensity measurement. Discussion: Our results revealed that both painting and singing interventions provide an immediate benefit on the patients’ well-being.

ClinicalTrials.govNCT02825732.

Anxiety impacts several stages of verbal memory, notably the processes of storage and retrieval, and visual recognition memory within a population having cognitive complaints. This study suggests that anxiety should be considered as a factor of memory vulnerability for patients being treated in memory clinics.

Young individuals better memorize initially seen faces with emotional rather than neutral expressions. Healthy older participants and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients show better memory for faces with positive expressions. The socioemotional selectivity theory postulates that this positivity effect in memory reflects a general age-related preference for positive stimuli, subserving emotion regulation. Another explanation might be that older participants use compensatory strategies, often considering happy faces as previously seen. The question about the existence of this effect in tasks not permitting such compensatory strategies is still open. Thus, we compared the performance of healthy participants and AD patients for positive, neutral, and negative faces in such tasks. Healthy older participants and AD patients showed a positivity effect in memory, but there was no difference between emotional and neutral faces in young participants. Our results suggest that the positivity effect in memory is not entirely due to the sense of familiarity for smiling faces.

No abstract