Background and Objectives In Argentina, government has established lockdown on 19 March 2020 to decrease SARS‐COV‐2 infection. The study aim was to understand how mandatory quarantine imposed due to COVID‐19 pandemic has affected quality of life, mood, and cognitive performance of older adults with cognitive impairment. Design Longitudinal descriptive–observational study. Participants Patients with cognitive impairment attending to online cognitive training sessions. Measurements Participants have completed by themselves Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease scale (QOL‐AD), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI‐II), Test your Memory (TYM), and an attention and executive task created by our institution. Same assessments were done at the beginning of the lockdown and 7 months later. Results Fifty‐one adults were included. An increase in BDI‐II score ( p = 0.049) and worse performance in one of the executive attention tests ( p = 0.012) have been found. No significant differences in QOL‐AD, TYM, verbal fluency, or memory tests total scores have been observed. Reviewing scales subitems, differences in changes in sleep habits ( p = 0.021), energy level decrease ( p = 0.004), worse subjective record of memory capacity ( p = 0.028), and decrease in ability to do housework ( p = 0.007) have been shown. In those who lived alone, BDI and TYM higher scores in BDI‐II ( p = 0.030) ( p = 0.022) have been found. Conclusion Mandatory quarantine imposed due to COVID‐19 pandemic was associated with worsening of mood, some quality‐of‐life variables, and decrease in attention in older adults with cognitive impairment in Argentina.

Background In Argentina, government has established lock down on 19 March in order to decrease SARS‐COV 2 infection. These restrictions have remained effective for long time, with increase of anxiety depression and insomnia as shown in several studies. Older population was particularly at risk due to greater limitations to go out. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of confinement in quality of life, mood and cognitive performance of older adults with cognitive impairment. Method Longitudinal descriptive‐observational study. Patients with cognitive impairment (CDR 0.5‐1) attending to virtual cognitive stimulation sessions have participated. Participants have completed by themselves Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease scale (QOL AD), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI‐II), Test your Memory (TYM) and an attention and executive battery created by our institution. Same assessments were done at the beginning of the lock down and 7 months later. SPSS program was used and means, standard deviations and paired‐samples t test were calculated. Result 51 adults (43 women, mean age: 68.53 SD: 8.06, mean education: 14.33 SD: 2.63) were included. An increase in BDI ‐II score (p = 0.049) and worse performance in one of the executive attention tests (p = 0.012) were found. No significant differences in total score of QOL‐AD (p = 0.090), TYM (p = 0.067), verbal fluency (p = 0.323) or memory tests (p = 0.098) were found. Reviewing sub items, differences in changes in sleep habits (p = 0.021), decrease in the energy level (p = 0.004), worse subjective record of memory capacity (p = 0.028) and decrease in ability to do housework (p = 0.007) were found. In those who lived alone a higher score in BDI ‐ II (p = 0.030) and TYM (p = 0.22) were found. Conclusion This is the first longitudinal study that measures the impact of lockdown on quality of life and cognitive performance in older adults with cognitive impairment in Argentina. Lockdown and isolation have shown worsening of mood and some quality of life variables and decrease in attention. Finally, our results show an increase in depressive symptoms in those patients who lived alone.

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: Spices and herbs have been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. Also, in the last decades, the use of different nutritional supplements has been implemented to treat all kinds of diseases, including those that present an alteration in cognitive functioning. Dementia is a clinical syndrome in which a person's mental and cognitive capacities gradually decline. As the disease progresses, the person’s autonomy diminishes. As there is not an effective treatment to prevent progressive deterioration in many of these pathologies, nutritional interventions have been, and still are, one of the most widely explored therapeutic possibilities. In this review, we have discussed a great number of potentially interesting plants, nutritional derivatives and probiotics for the treatment of dementia around the world. Their action mechanisms generally involve neuroprotective effects via anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-apoptotic, b-amyloid and tau anti-aggregate actions; brain blood flow improvement, and effects on synaptic cholinergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission, which may optimize cognitive performance in patients with cognitive impairment. As for their efficacy in patients with cognitive impairment and/or dementias, evidence is still scarce and/or their outcomes are controversial. We consider that many of these substances have promising therapeutic properties. Therefore, the scientific community has to continue with a more complete research focused on both identifying possible action mechanisms and carrying out clinical trials, preferably randomized double-blind ones, with a greater number of patients, a long-term follow-up, dose standardization and the use of current diagnosis criteria.

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