Premium
Effects of COVID‐19 on cognition of older African Americans
Author(s) -
Kavcic Voyko,
Podlesek Anja,
DiCerbo Loraine M,
Hanna Sophie,
Shair Sarah,
Giordani Bruno
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.056240
Subject(s) - cognition , psychology , gerontology , quality of life (healthcare) , gratitude , cognitive skill , memorization , happiness , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , mathematics education , psychotherapist
Background The Covid‐19 pandemic, with its diverse effects (e.g., on quality of life, health and illness, physical and psychological well‐being, social and economic life), has also been suggested to effect cognitive functioning. To better understand the possible effect of the COVID‐19 pandemic, we examined cognitive functioning of older African Americans. Method Study included 164 community‐dwelling older African Americans (mean age= 75.6, range=64‐94) recruited from the Wayne State Institute of Gerontology Healthier Black Elders Center and general Detroit area. Responses were gathered over the phone between 7/28/2020 to 1/14/2021. Change in cognitive functioning was evaluated with the newly developed Cognitive Change Questionnaire (CCQ) in which participants self‐evaluated their cognition related to daily activities (e.g., memorizing, paying attention, task switching) on a 5‐point scale (1–Much easier, 3–No difference, to 5–Much harder), comparing it to the pre‐pandemic time. In addition, all participants received the TICSm phone‐based cognitive screen. Responses to COVID‐19 were measured on these scales: positive emotions (e.g., gratitude, happiness), negative emotion (e.g., anger, fear), unmet needs (e.g., food, medical care), and personal issues (e.g., economic problems, reduced privacy). Result Findings showed that 106 (65%) participants did not report any COVID‐19 related cognitive changes, 7 (4%) indicated improved cognitive functioning, and 50 (31%) indicated that their cognitive functioning was worse as compared to pre‐COVID‐19 times. Average CCQ scale score (range 8‐40) was 26.86. CCQ scale showed good psychometric properties (Cronbach alpha=.84). Significant correlations were obtained between CCQ and TICSm subscales: r=–.16 (p=.05) with total score, r=–.19 (p=.01) with immediate recall, and r=–.24 (p=.002) with delayed recall. Stepwise regression analysis showed that COVID‐19 related responses explained 24% of variability on CCQ: participants reported greater cognitive decline if they expressed greater level of negative emotions (21% explained variance) and higher anxiety (3% explained variance). Conclusion These results demonstrate that a sizeable percentage of older community‐dwelling African Americans do self‐report cognitive decline following COVID‐19, associated with increased presence of negative emotions and anxiety. The possibility of altered cognitive function should be considered not only for quality‐of‐care issues, but also when recruiting for research trials during and after the pandemic.