Recent and Past Publications
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Abstract
Objectives
The current study uses longitudinal data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) to assess the effects of antipsychotic medication use on changes in cognitive functioning among adults in the United States.
Methods
Linear mixed models were conducted that included study visits, days between visits, sex, age, education, and medical history (i.e. diabetes, seizures, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease). The Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) was used to create variables assessing changes in psychotic symptoms, manic symptoms, and agitation/disinhibition.
Results
The results indicated that starting an antipsychotic medication was associated with a greater decline in semantic fluency (Fruit and Vegetable Naming), processing speed (Digit Symbol and Trail Making Test, Part A), and cognitive flexibility (Trail Making Test, Part B). Conversely, stopping an antipsychotic medication was protective against declines in the same cognitive skills. The effect of antipsychotic medications on cognitive functioning did not appear to differ by reported changes in psychiatric symptoms after adjusting for false discovery.
Conclusion
The results suggest that prescribers should consider discontinuance of an antipsychotic if the patient is reporting cognitive problems and their symptoms are manageable off the medications. The findings hope to spark future research into the effects of antipsychotic use on biomarkers of progressive dementias (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease).
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Abstract
Introduction: The current study assessed trajectory of within subject change in depressive symptoms before and after the COVID-19 related lockdowns were implemented in the United States in 2019-2020.
Method: A General Estimating Equations model was conducted with electronic medical records data of 36,868 adult patients at a chain of federally funded integrated primary care clinics. Changes in Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) scores were included in the model as the dependent variable.
Results: April 2020 was the only month when PHQ-2 scores increased with 95% confidence. April and December 2020 had greater likelihood than April and December 2019 to show a mean increase in depressive symptoms.
Discussion: Depression rates increased substantially at the start of the pandemic (i.e., April 2020) and subsequently returned to pre-pandemic expectations. However, depression rates were less likely to decline in December 2019, which may be due to social distancing and cancellation of holiday gatherings.
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Abstract
Objective:
The current study assessed the effects of statin and CoQ10 supplement use on changes in cognitive functioning in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention study.
Methods:
1,573 subjects were administered medical histories, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Wechsler Memory Scale, Logical Memory subtest, and the Trail Making Test, Parts A (TMT-A) and B (TMT-B) 3-4 times over 5-10 years.
Results:
Linear mixed models did not yield significant effects for statin or CoQ10 supplement use on changes in mental status, learning and memory, psychomotor speed, and cognitive flexibility.
Conclusions:
Statin and/or CoQ10 supplement use was not associated with neuropsychological test performance in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention study.
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Abstract
Objective
The current study investigated the effects of proton pump inhibitor use and apolipoprotein ε4 carrier status on changes in neuropsychological functioning in healthy adults with familial risk factors for dementia.
Methods
As part of the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention study, 1,573 subjects were administered questionnaires on their medical history, gave blood samples, and were administered neuropsychological assessments during four visits over a 10–15 year period. Linear mixed models assessed if non-users, subjects who stopped, started, or consistently used proton pump inhibitors differed in changes in working memory, verbal memory, psychomotor speed, and cognitive flexibility.
Results
The models did not yield significant main effects for proton pump inhibitor use or interaction effects between proton pump inhibitor use and apolipoprotein ε4 carrier status on a decline in memory or processing speed. An interaction effect suggested stopping a proton pump inhibitor may be protective against declines in cognitive flexibility among non-carriers.
Conclusions
Although stopping a proton pump inhibitor use may have mild protective effects on executive functioning for non-apolipoprotein ε4 carriers, proton pump inhibitor use was not associated with memory decline in a sample of subjects with familial risk factors for dementia.
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Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that anticholinergic drug exposure is associated with cognitive decline in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP) study. Secondary aims were to assess if the effects of anticholinergic drugs on different domains of cognitive functioning varied for the entire sample and by apolipoprotein ε4 status. Methods: The WRAP study includes a sample of 1,573 subjects who self-reported medication use and were administered several cognitive tests four times over a decade. Partial correlations assessed relationships between reported days of definite anticholinergic drug exposure with changes in cognitive performance. Linear mixed models were conducted testing main effects for anticholinergic drug use and interaction effects between anticholinergic drug use, apolipoprotein ε4 status, and time on neuropsychological assessment performance. Results: Partial correlations indicated that days of anticholinergic drug exposure was associated with a decline in mental status for the entire sample (r = −.043, p = .011), and immediate verbal memory (r = −.066, p = .043), delayed verbal memory (r = −.077, p = .018), psychomotor speed (r = −.066, p = .043), and cognitive flexibility (r = −.067, p = .040) of apolipoprotein ε4 carriers only. The linear mixed-model results suggested that anticholinergic drug users had a greater decline than nonusers in delayed memory, psychomotor speed, and cognitive flexibility. Apolipoprotein ε4 carrier, anticholinergic drug users performed worse in delayed memory than nonusers and noncarrier, anticholinergic drug users. Conclusions: Anticholinergic drug use may have deleterious effects on the cognitive functioning of subjects in populations at risk for dementia, especially among apolipoprotein ε4 carriers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
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Abstract
This research investigated the effects of parental divorce on the moral judgment development of freshman and sophomore college students (N = 377). Freshmen with divorced parents had lower scores of moral judgment development than freshmen with married parents, whereas sophomores with divorced parents had higher moral judgment development scores than sophomores with married parents. It was also found that an experience changing homes in childhood or adolescence was negatively associated with moral judgment development for freshmen but positively associated with moral judgment development for sophomores. It was concluded that the change of environment associated with a parental divorce could enhance moral judgment development growth in the early years of college.
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