No abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of a group music intervention in managing behavioral and psychological symptoms in Chinese elderly with dementia. This cluster randomized trial recruited 73 elderly participants with moderate dementia from 10 elderly residential homes and assigned them to the intervention ( n = 40) and control ( n = 33) group. The intervention included 16 half-hour sessions of music intervention with multi-sensory components over eight weeks and control group received standard care. Participants' levels of subjective moods and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation, aberrant motor behaviors, dysphoria, and irritability were assessed at baseline, the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and the end of the intervention. Controlling for baseline outcomes, latent growth modeling revealed significant intervention effects for agitation ( B = -1.03, SE = 0.30, p < 0.01), aberrant motor behavior ( B = -1.80, SE = 0.66, p < 0.01), and dysphoria ( B = -0.79, SE = 0.36, p < 0.05), with the intervention group showing improvements compared to no substantial changes in the control group. There were no significant intervention effects on irritability or subjective mood ( p > 0.05). The music intervention showed significant reduction in the behavioral and psychological symptoms in Chinese elderly patients with dementia. Elderly homes could adopt this practical non-pharmacological intervention as a strategy to improve the well-being of the elderly.

The findings support the FOME as a valid assessment tool of episodic memory function in older Chinese adults. The combined use of FOME and daily functioning is recommended to distinguish persons with dementia from MCI.

Dementia is marked by progressive deteriorations in memory, spatial navigation and language functioning and disturbances in daily functioning. Non-pharmacological

Background: Memory deficits are linked to dysfunctional HPA axis activity and negative affect in older adults. This study evaluated the mediating effect of the diurnal cortisol pattern on the relationship between affect and memory in older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: This longitudinal study recruited 189 Chinese older adults with MCI from elderly centers in Hong Kong. The participants completed assessments of affect, salivary cortisol, and digit spans at baseline; neurocognitive assessments on verbal fluency, memory retrieval, and digit spans at 6-month follow-up; and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) at 1-year follow-up. Structural equation modeling examined the direct and indirect effects of negative affect on memory and IADL via diurnal cortisol pattern. Results: Controlling for covariates, negative affect significantly predicted flattened diurnal cortisol slopes (β = 0.17, p < 0.05) but not memory or IADL (p = 0.23-0.91) directly. Diurnal cortisol slopes negatively predicted memory retrieval (β = −0.20, p < 0.05), which in turn positively predicted IADL (β = 0.22, p < 0.01). The indirect effect from negative affect to IADL via cortisol slope and memory retrieval was significant and negative (αβγ = −0.05, 95% bootstrapped CI = −0.248 to −0.001). Discussion: The present study established certain temporal linkages among affect and cortisol slopes at baseline, memory retrieval at 6 months, and functional decline 1 year later in older adults with MCI. Flattened diurnal cortisol slopes might mediate the detrimental effects of negative affect on memory retrieval and functioning across 1 year.