Wilson Sims Fall Risk Assessment Tool Versus Morse Fall Scale in Psychogeriatric Inpatients: a Multicentre Study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare predictive validity of the Wilson Sims Fall Risk Assessment Tool (WSFRAT) with that of the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) in psychogeriatric inpatients. METHODS: Psychogeriatric patients from Shatin Hospital, Tai Po Hospital, Castle Peak Hospital, and United Christian Hospital who had fall incident between April 2019 and April 2020 were identified. Their fall risks were assessed by the WSFRAT and the MFS, and their falls incidents during hospitalisation were recorded. Patients were classified as having high fall risk when their MFS score was ≥45 and when their WSFRAT score was ≥7. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the two scales were calculated. RESULTS: We identified 183 (90 male and 93 female) psychogeriatric patients aged ≥65 years who had fall incident and were assessed by both the WSFRAT and the MFS during the study period. Among the 183 patients, four sustained a fall during hospital stay, giving a prevalence of 2.19%. All four patients were classified as having high risk of fall by WSFRAT, but only two of them were classified so by MFS. The sensitivity of WSFRAT was 100%, which was higher than the 50% by MFS, but specificity of MFS was higher than that of WSFRAT (45.81% vs 54.75%). CONCLUSION: WSFRAT is a better fall risk assessment scale for psychiatric inpatients than MFS, because of higher sensitivity (100% vs 50%). It has items specific to psychiatric patients and should replace MFS in psychiatric settings.

Personalized prediction of transcranial magnetic stimulation clinical response in patients with treatment-refractory depression using neuroimaging biomarkers and machine learning.

BACKGROUND: Functional connectivity between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and subgenual cingulate (sgACC) may serve as a biomarker for transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment response. The first aim was to establish whether this finding is veridical or artifactually induced by the pre-processing method. Furthermore, alternative biomarkers were identified and the clinical utility for personalized medicine was examined. METHODS: Resting-state fMRI data were collected in medication-refractory depressed patients (n = 70, 16 males) before undergoing neuronavigated left DLPFC rTMS. Seed-based analyses were performed with and without global signal regression pre-processing to identify biomarkers of short-term and long-term treatment response. Receiver Operating Characteristic curve and supervised machine learning analyses were applied to assess the clinical utility of these biomarkers for the classification of categorical rTMS response. RESULTS: Regardless of the pre-processing method, DLPFC-sgACC connectivity was not associated with treatment outcome. Instead, poorer connectivity between the sgACC and three clusters (peak locations: frontal pole, superior parietal lobule, occipital cortex) and DLPFC-central opercular cortex were observed in long-term nonresponders. The identified connections could serve as acceptable to excellent markers. Combining the features using supervised machine learning reached accuracy rates of 95.35% (CI=82.94-100.00) and 88.89% (CI=63.96-100.00) in the cross-validation and test dataset, respectively. LIMITATIONS: The sample size was moderate, and features for machine learning were based on group differences. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term nonresponders showed greater disrupted connectivity in regions involving the central executive network. Our findings may aid the development of personalized medicine for medication-refractory depression.

Anxiety and depression with neurogenesis defects in exchange protein directly activated by cAMP 2-deficient mice are ameliorated by a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, Prozac.

Intracellular cAMP and serotonin are important modulators of anxiety and depression. Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) also known as Prozac, is widely used against depression, potentially by activating cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through protein kinase A (PKA). However, the role of Epac1 and Epac2 (Rap guanine nucleotide exchange factors, RAPGEF3 and RAPGEF4, respectively) as potential downstream targets of SSRI/cAMP in mood regulations is not yet clear. Here, we investigated the phenotypes of Epac1 (Epac1(-/-)) or Epac2 (Epac2(-/-)) knockout mice by comparing them with their wild-type counterparts. Surprisingly, Epac2(-/-) mice exhibited a wide range of mood disorders, including anxiety and depression with learning and memory deficits in contextual and cued fear-conditioning tests without affecting Epac1 expression or PKA activity. Interestingly, rs17746510, one of the three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in RAPGEF4 associated with cognitive decline in Chinese Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, was significantly correlated with apathy and mood disturbance, whereas no significant association was observed between RAPGEF3 SNPs and the risk of AD or neuropsychiatric inventory scores. To further determine the detailed role of Epac2 in SSRI/serotonin/cAMP-involved mood disorders, we treated Epac2(-/-) mice with a SSRI, Prozac. The alteration in open field behavior and impaired hippocampal cell proliferation in Epac2(-/-) mice were alleviated by Prozac. Taken together, Epac2 gene polymorphism is a putative risk factor for mood disorders in AD patients in part by affecting the hippocampal neurogenesis.

The Hong Kong mental morbidity survey: background and study design.

Mental disorders are highly prevalent conditions with immense disease burden. To inform health and social services policy formulation, local psychiatric epidemiological data are required. The Hong Kong Mental Morbidity Survey is a 3-year population-based study in which 5700 community-dwelling Chinese adults aged between 16 and 75 years were interviewed with the aim of evaluating the prevalence, co-morbidity, functional impairment, physical morbidity, and social determinants of significant mental disorders in the population. This paper describes the background and design of the survey, and is the first territory-wide psychiatric epidemiological study in Hong Kong.

Association between late-onset depression and incident dementia in Chinese older persons.

OBJECTIVE. Previous studies have shown that depression is a precursor / prodrome or susceptible state for the development of dementia. This study aimed to examine the relationship between late-onset depression and subsequent cognitive and functional decline in a cohort of non-demented older Chinese persons at their 2-year follow-up and investigate for possible predictors of cognitive decline. METHODS. A total of 81 depressed subjects and 468 non-depressed community controls were recruited. RESULTS. Subjects with late-onset depression showed significantly more incident Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale decline (odds ratio = 3.87, 95% confidence interval = 2.23-6.70) and dementia (odds ratio = 3.44, 95% confidence interval = 1.75-6.77) than those without depression. A higher proportion of depressed CDR 0 subjects had CDR and functional decline than their non-depressed counterparts. Depressed CDR 0.5 subjects had significantly higher rates of functional decline and lower rates of improvement in CDR than their non-depressed counterparts. CONCLUSION. Diagnosis of depression was a robust predictor of incident very mild dementia (i.e. CDR of 0.5) and depression severity was a predictor of progression to dementia from CDR of 0.5. The association between depression and the risk of CDR decline and dementia was observed in non-demented Chinese subjects. Depression was also associated with persistent mild cognitive deficits in CDR 0.5 subjects.

Spiritual activity is associated with better cognitive function in old age.

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the association between late-life spiritual activity participation and cognitive function in older Chinese adults in Hong Kong. METHODS: Participants aged 60 years or older without clinical dementia or major psychiatric disorders were recruited. Dementia severity and global cognitive function were assessed using the Clinical Dementia Rating and Cantonese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination, respectively. Cognitive performance was measured using 10-minute delayed recall, the Category Verbal Fluency Test, Visual Aural Digit Span Test, and Modified Card Sorting Test. Psychological status was assessed using the Chinese version of the Purpose in Life scale. Activities participated in were categorised into 6 domains of physical, cognitive, social, prosocial, spiritual, and recreational activities. RESULTS: A total of 380 participants were enrolled. Bivariate correlation showed that the composite score of cognitive function was positively correlated with aerobic exercise (r = 0.14; p = 0.01), cognitive activity (r = 0.30; p < 0.001), and spiritual activity (r = 0.16; p = 0.002). Multiple linear regression suggested that frequent participation in cognitive activity (B = 0.87, beta = 0.22; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.52-1.25 and p < 0.001) and spiritual activity (B = 0.45, beta = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.13-0.76 and p = 0.01) were associated with better cognitive function after controlling for age and years of education. CONCLUSION: Engagement in spiritual activity may benefit cognitive function in old age. Longitudinal studies are recommended to further examine the causal relationship of spiritual activity and cognitive function.

Clinical remission of late-onset depression in elderly Chinese: a short-term outcome study.

OBJECTIVE: Better understanding of the relationship between executive and memory functions and treatment response in late-onset depression may improve our ability to identify those individuals who are less likely to benefit from traditional pharmacological interventions. This study aimed to investigate the remission rate in elderly Chinese people with late-onset depression, and to examine the predictors of outcomes. METHODS: Patients aged 60 years or older with late-onset depression without dementia were recruited into the study. Mood symptoms were assessed by the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Neuropsychiatric Inventory at 12 and 24 weeks. Cognitive domains assessed included global cognitive function, episodic memory, executive functions, and processing speed. The clinical characteristics and cognitive scores were compared among the early remitters, late remitters, and non-remitters. RESULTS: Of the 105 subjects, 42 (40%) had remission at 12 weeks and were categorised as early remitters, 41 (39%) who did not remit at 12 weeks achieved remission at 24 weeks (late remitters), and 22 (21%) had not achieved remission at 24 weeks (non-remitters). Executive function, processing speed, episodic memory, apathy and depression severity were related to remission outcomes. Regression analyses found that severity of baseline apathy and depression were predictors of remission at 12 and 24 weeks, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified 2 subgroups of patients according to outcomes. One group with clinical characteristics similar to vascular depression achieved a late response to treatment. The other group were non-remitters who had features of depression-executive dysfunction syndrome, which might have underlying degenerative process and presented with the co-occurrence of depression and mild cognitive impairment.

Assessing mental capacity for everyday decision-making in the Chinese older population.

1. The abilities to make everyday decisions may be reliably measured in the local elderly population. 2. The Chinese version of the Assessment of Capacity for Everyday Decision-Making is a reliable tool to assess these abilities. 3. Significant proportion of participants with mild dementia was mentally incapable in making decisions on everyday tasks. Global cognitive functioning appeared to be an important prerequisite for intact mental capacity.

A randomized controlled trial of dietetic interventions to prevent cognitive decline in old age hostel residents.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To examine whether dietary interventions promote intakes of fruit, vegetable, fish and lower salt intake were effective in preventing cognitive decline in older people. Dietary factors have been associated with cognitive function in older people. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 429 non-demented subjects in 14 old age hostels, with an average age of 83 years, were randomly assigned by hostel to have either regular group dietary counselling and menu changes or advice on hostel menu only. Food and salt intakes were estimated at regular intervals by 24-h recall or food record and fasting urinary sodium, respectively. The primary outcome was cognitive decline as defined by an increase in clinical dementia rating scale score. Secondary clinical outcomes were mini mental state examination, category fluency test, body weight, blood pressures and health-related quality of life. RESULTS: At baseline, the intervention group had more men and lower fish intake. When compared with control group, the intervention group had significantly less decline in intakes of fruit and fish. At month 33%, 22.2% and 27.2% of intervention and control group subjects had cognitive decline, respectively (Unadjusted P=0.285, χ² test). There were no significant group changes in secondary clinical outcomes. On subgroup analysis, fewer cognitively normal subjects in intervention group had cognitive decline at month 24 (adjusted P=0.065). CONCLUSIONS: Dietary interventions in older people were effective in maintaining fruit and fish intake, but this did not lead to a significant reduction in cognitive decline.

Cognitive function, functional performance and severity of depression in Chinese older persons with late-onset depression.

OBJECTIVES. The relationship between cognitive status and depressive symptoms and their liability to cause functional decline are of clinical and public health importance as it appears to be common, frequently coexists, and may be treatable. This study examined the relationship of depression severity and cognitive performance and the impact of such an interaction on functional ability in Chinese elderly subjects with late-onset depression. METHODS. A total of 105 non-demented elderly patients with late-onset depression were recruited. Impairment in instrumental activities of daily living and severity of depression were respectively assessed with the Disability Assessment for Dementia scale and the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Various cognitive domains were assessed including global cognitive function, delayed episodic memory, and executive functions. The relationship between specific cognitive impairment and mood symptom severity was assessed. The clinical correlates of functional performance were also examined. RESULTS. Increasingly severe depression was associated with lower scores in the Mini-Mental State Examination, delayed recall, and poorer performance in the Trail Making Test-Part A (after adjusting for the effect of age and education). The severity of apathy correlated negatively with the Mini-Mental State Examination scores only. Among the depressed subjects, greater levels of depression and apathy, poorer performance in Trail Making Test-Part B, and mild parkinsonian signs were associated with lower functional scores. CONCLUSIONS. Lack of interest and motivation, depressive mood, compounded by behavioural abnormalities resulting from executive dysfunction, accounted for functional disability in elderly subjects with late-onset depression. These relationships may provide the background for developing interventions targeting functional deficits associated with specific cognitive dysfunctions and depression.

A questionnaire survey on attitudes and understanding towards mental disorders.

OBJECTIVES. To obtain information about basic knowledge towards mental disorders and to evaluate public attitudes towards mental disorders in the Hong Kong Chinese population. METHODS. Questionnaires which collected basic demographic information, opinions about potential stigmas and myths, and knowledge on case vignettes depicting fictional characters with symptoms of mental illness were delivered to subjects in a secondary school, 2 homes for the elderly, a private housing estate, and a public housing estate in Hong Kong. RESULTS. Completed questionnaires were collected from 1035 subjects. In general, the participants' acceptance of mental illness was good. Regular contacts with such patients were associated with better knowledge (t = -2.71, p < 0.01) and better acceptance (t = 2.77, p < 0.01) of mental illness. Younger participants aged 15 to 19 years had a lower level of knowledge about mental health problems compared with other age-groups (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS. Personal contact with people with mental illness may help to improve knowledge and acceptance. Younger people in secondary school should be the target and prioritised group for mental health education. Apart from the delivery of mental health knowledge, strategies to increase social contact of the public with people having mental illness could be considered in the design and implementation of anti-stigma programmes.

Cognitive and functional impairment in Chinese elderly with late-onset depression.

OBJECTIVES. To investigate cognitive and functional impairment in Chinese elderly subjects with late-onset depression. METHODS. Subjects with late-onset depression and who were clinically non-demented were recruited. Their cognitive and functional scores were compared with those of cognitively normal elderly controls and elderly persons with mild cognitive impairment. Functional ability was assessed by the Disability Assessment for Dementia score. Various cognitive domains were assessed including global cognitive function, delayed episodic memory, working memory, and categorical verbal fluency test. RESULTS. A total of 105 depressed subjects and 324 non-depressed controls (149 normal elderly controls and 175 with mild cognitive impairment) were recruited. The depression group had significantly poorer performance in all cognitive assessments compared to the normal elderly control group. The depression group had a similar cognitive profile to those with mild cognitive impairment, except that its subjects had slightly better performance in the Categorical Verbal Fluency Test, delayed recall testing, and the Chinese version of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale test. Depressed subjects had significantly lower functional scores in instrumental activities of daily living than the non-depressed, normal elderly controls, and those with mild cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS. Our results demonstrate that Chinese elderly with late-onset depression had cognitive impairments in multiple domains similar to those encountered in the age- and sex-matched non-depressed controls with mild cognitive impairment. However, their functional performance was significantly poorer than that in these controls. This study provided extensive characterisation of the range and depth of cognitive and functional impairments in elderly patients with late-onset depression.

Modulating factors that preserve cognitive function in healthy ageing.

OBJECTIVES: Most studies examining factors contributing to cognitive impairments and dementia in late life focused on risks. In this study, we aimed to evaluate factors that might help preserve cognition in healthy Hong Kong elders. METHODS: This was a 2-year prospective study of 476 cognitively healthy community dwellers (aged 60-92 years) recruited in Hong Kong. Participants were assessed with a battery of cognitive tests and questionnaires on their sense of loneliness and leisure activities. RESULTS: A high level of cognitive activity participation (r = 0.13, p = 0.03) and a low level of loneliness (r = -0.15, p = 0.01) were associated with better cognitive test performance. Participants with more years of education (odds ratio = 1.27, P < 0.001) and a higher frequency of drinking (odds ratio = 1.17, p = 0.05) were associated with high cognitive function, while those with a high level of loneliness (odds ratio = 0.79, p = 0.01) were associated with low cognitive function. The correlation with cognitive activity participation remained significant in participants with very good cognitive function (r = 0.20, p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that social engagement and moderate drinking may be modulating factors for cognition. Further studies should explore the interactions between lifestyle factors and cognition in older adults with no significant cognitive impairment.