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Tau‐PET is associated with knowledge of COVID‐19, COVID‐19‐related distress, and change in sleep quality during the pandemic
Author(s) -
Lussier Firoza Z,
Servaes Stijn,
Kang Min Su,
Bezgin Gleb,
Chamoun Mira,
Stevenson Jenna,
Rahmouni Nesrine,
Stevenson Alyssa,
Pascoal Tharick A.,
King Suzanne,
Elgbeili Guillaume,
Bzdok Danilo,
Gauthier Serge,
RosaNeto Pedro
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.054133
Subject(s) - pandemic , distress , cohort , psychology , medicine , covid-19 , clinical psychology , psychiatry , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Background While the global COVID‐19 pandemic has hindered many human research operations, it has allowed for the investigation of novel scientific questions. Particularly, the effects of the pandemic and its resulting social isolation on elderly individuals and their association with Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers remains a broad and open question. Here, we sought to investigate whether knowledge of COVID‐19, pandemic‐related distress, and changes in sleep quality were associated with in vivo tau deposition in an AD‐enriched cohort. Methods COVID‐19 telephone assessments were conducted in N=292 individuals (29 young/174 CN/52 MCI/19 AD/18 other) of the TRIAD cohort in April‐July 2020. Assessment consisted of clinical and neuropsychiatric, instruments, including scales assessing the individual’s experience of the pandemic. Structural MRI and [ 18 F]MK6240 tau‐PET were acquired before the pandemic. [ 18 F]MK6240 standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) were calculated 90‐110 minutes post‐injection using cerebellar grey matter as the reference region. Voxel‐based regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between baseline [ 18 F]MK6240 SUVR and knowledge of COVID‐19, distress related to COVID‐19, and change in sleep quality since the pandemic. Results Higher tau‐PET SUVR was associated with less knowledge of COVID‐19 in N=210 individuals in the cuneus, cingulate and superior temporal regions. Tau‐PET was similarly associated with lower levels of COVID‐19‐related distress in the isthmus and rostral anterior cingulate (N=201 individuals). Furthermore, tau‐PET tracer uptake was significantly associated with increases in sleep quality as assessed by rate of change in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index before and during the pandemic (N=176 individuals). All results survived correction for multiple comparisons using random field theory with a cluster threshold of p < 0.001. Conclusion Our results suggest that those with increased tau deposition may have a weaker understanding of symptoms and prevention of COVID‐19 and lower levels of distress related to the pandemic than individuals with less brain tau. Individuals with higher tau may also experience improved sleep quality during the pandemic. While these observations appear to be favourable effects of tau, the first may suggest that public health information about COVID‐19 is less accessible to the aging population. The interactions and mediation of these effects remain to be properly elucidated.