Acceptability of a lifelogging wearable camera in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a mixed-method study.

BACKGROUND: The main objective of this research was to evaluate the acceptance of technology based on a wearable lifelogging camera in a sample of older adults diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). METHODS: A mixed-method design was used, consisting of a self-report questionnaire, numerous images taken by users, and a series of focus group discussions. The patients were involved in an individualized training programme. RESULTS: Nine MCI patients and their caregiver relatives were included. They showed good acceptance of the camera and downloaded an appropriate number of images on a daily basis. Perceived severity and ease of use were the main factors associated with the intention to use the device. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults with MCI can become competent users of lifelogging wearable cameras with a good level of acceptance. Privacy concerns are outweighed by the potential benefits for memory. Limitations, strengths and implications for future research are discussed.

Executive function in fibromyalgia: Comparing subjective and objective measures.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence to suggest the existence of an executive dysfunction in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia, although there are certain inconsistencies between studies. Here, we aim to compare executive performance between patients with fibromyalgia and a control group by using subjective and objective cognitive tests, analyzing the influence of patient mood on the results obtained, and studying associations between the two measures. METHOD: 82 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 42 healthy controls, matched by age and years of education, were assessed using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult Version (BRIEF-A) as a subjective measure of executive functioning. A selection of objective cognitive tests were also used to measure a series of executive functions and to identify symptoms of depression and anxiety. RESULTS: Patients with fibromyalgia perceived greater difficulties than the control group on all of the BRIEF-A scales. However, after adjustments were made for depression and anxiety the only differences that remained were those associated with the working memory scale and the Metacognition and Global Executive Composite index. In the case of the objective cognitive tests, a significantly worse overall performance was evidenced for the fibromyalgia patients. However, this also disappeared when adjustments were made for depression and anxiety. After this adjustment, fibromyalgia patients only performed significantly worse for the interference effect in the Stroop Test. Although there were no significant associations between most of the objective cognitive tests and the BRIEF-A scales, depression and anxiety exhibited strong associations with almost all of the BRIEF-A scales and with several of the objective cognitive tests. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with fibromyalgia showed executive dysfunction in subjective and objective measures, although most of this impairment was associated with mood disturbances. Exceptions to this general rule were observed in the impairment of working memory evidenced on the BRIEF-A scale and the inhibition impairment exhibited by the interference effect from the Stroop Test. The two types of measurement provide different yet complementary information.

The Effects of Exposure to Recent Autobiographical Events on Declarative Memory in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Preliminary Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) are at heightened risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia. In recent years, much attention has been given to the search for new interventions to slow down the progression of cognitive decline of these patients. Wearable digital camera devices are one form of new technology that captures images of one's life events, so they constitute a promising method to be used as a means to stimulate recent autobiographical memory. OBJECTIVE: This preliminary study investigates the ability of a new cognitive intervention based on exposure to recent autobiographical memory captured by wearable cameras to improve episodic memory in patients with aMCI. METHODS: Seventeen subjects wore a wearable camera while they went about their daily activities. The images captured were converted into eight different 3-minute films containing the most relevant information of each event. The intervention involved eight individualized weekly sessions during which patients were exposed to a different autobiographical event each week. Besides, several specific questions were formulated within each session. Clinical questionnaires assessing cognitive reserve, premorbid intelligence, depression, and anxiety were administered at baseline. Measures of objective episodic memory were applied at baseline and at post-treatment. RESULTS: Significant improvements were observed at post-treatment in memory measures, and significant associations were found between memory change scores and age and cognitive reserve. Anyway, these associations did not reach statistical significance after adjusting for multiple comparisons. CONCLUSION: The present study provides preliminary evidence that aMCI patients may benefit from a cognitive intervention program based on re-experiencing recent autobiographical events. However, future studies incorporating a control group will be needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

The effect of depressive symptoms on cognition in patients with fibromyalgia.

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia (FM) patients frequently complain of cognitive problems, but it remains unclear whether these cognitive complaints can be attributed to a dysfunction of the central nervous system or if they can be explained by other factors associated with the disease, such as depression, anxiety and sleep dysfunction. METHODS: One hundred and ten patients with FM were compared with thirty-three patients diagnosed with a depressive disorder (DD) and fifty healthy controls (HC). Several measures of attention and executive functions were used to make these comparisons and the patients were also asked to complete questionnaires on depression, anxiety and sleep quality. Univariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were performed to identify and control confounders and multiple linear models were used to examine the effects of fibromyalgia and depression on cognitive measures. RESULTS: FM and HC differed significantly with respect to depression, anxiety and sleep dysfunction, whereas FM and DD did not differ in terms of symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, FM was associated with a worse quality of sleep than DD. Comparisons of cognitive performance between groups showed that short-term and working memory and inattention measures were only associated with symptoms of depression, whereas selective attention was associated with both depression and fibromyalgia, and processing speed, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control showed a significant interaction between depression and fibromyalgia. Moreover, cognitive flexibility and inhibition abilities were specifically associated with FM. CONCLUSION: FM patients show a cluster of cognitive impairment in the attentional and executive domains, although some of the symptoms observed could be explained by the severity of the symptoms of depression, while others seem to depend on the effects of fibromyalgia. Implications of the findings for the understanding and management of cognitive impairment of FM patients are discussed.

Cognitive complaints in women with fibromyalgia: Are they due to depression or to objective cognitive dysfunction?

INTRODUCTION: Cognitive complaints are common in fibromyalgia, but it is unclear whether they represent an objective cognitive dysfunction or whether they could be explained by depressive symptoms. Here, we aim to elucidate the frequency of subjective cognitive complaints in a sample of women with fibromyalgia, in addition to analyzing associations between these subjective complaints and objective measures linked to the attention and executive cognitive domains. Finally, we aim to investigate the ability of demographic, clinical, and psychological variables to explain the subjective complaints observed. METHOD: One hundred and five women aged 30-55 years diagnosed with fibromyalgia completed a neuropsychological assessment, which included measures of attention and executive functions. They also completed self-report inventories of subjective cognitive complaints, depression, anxiety, intensity of pain, sleep quality, everyday physical functioning, and quality of life. RESULTS: Eighty-four percent of the patients reported subjective cognitive complaints. Depression scores, everyday physical functioning, and working memory performance were most strongly associated with subjective cognitive complaints. These three variables were significant predictors for subjective cognitive complaints with a final model explaining 32% of the variance. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive complaints are very frequent in patients with fibromyalgia, and these are related to functional and cognitive impairment as well as to depressive symptoms.

[Cognitive dysfunction in fibromyalgia]. / Disfunción cognitiva en la fibromialgia.

INTRODUCTION: People with a fibromyalgia diagnosis complain of having very poor cognitive functioning. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest to investigate which cognitive impairment is present in this disease. AIM: To review the published research on fibromyalgia and cognitive dysfunction. DEVELOPMENT: A literature search was performed with a time interval from 1995 to 2012. Search terms included the keywords 'fibromyalgia' and 'cognition', 'attention', 'memory', 'language', 'perception', 'executive functions' and 'dis-executive syndrome'. 64 records were selected after applying inclusion criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Studies that have examined cognitive function in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia have been few and mostly with small samples. Deficits have been identified mainly in working memory and complex attentional functions, where the distraction factor has an important significance. Impairment has also been identified in long-term memory and executive functions. There is consensus among the studies in which the degree of pain is directly related to the level of cognitive dysfunction, while no full consensus to explain the influence of depression and anxiety on cognitive functioning in these patients.

TITLE: Disfuncion cognitiva en la fibromialgia.Introduccion. Las personas diagnosticadas de fibromialgia refieren de manera muy frecuente quejas sobre su pobre funcionamiento cognitivo. En los ultimos anos ha aumentado el interes para investigar cuales son las alteraciones cognitivas presentes en esta enfermedad. Objetivo. Realizar una revision de las investigaciones publicadas sobre fibromialgia y funciones cognitivas. Desarrollo. Se realizo una busqueda bibliografica con un intervalo temporal desde 1995 hasta 2012. Los terminos de busqueda incluyeron las palabras clave 'fibromyalgia' y 'cognition', 'attention', 'memory', 'language', 'perception', 'executive functions' y 'disexecutive syndrome'. Se seleccionaron 64 registros tras aplicar criterios de inclusion. Conclusiones. Los estudios que han analizado las funciones cognitivas en las personas diagnosticadas de fibromialgia han sido escasos y mayoritariamente con muestras pequenas. Se han identificado deficits principalmente en la memoria de trabajo y en las capacidades atencionales mas complejas, donde el factor distraccion tiene una relevancia importante. Tambien se ha identificado deterioro en la memoria a largo plazo y en las funciones ejecutivas. Existe consenso entre los diversos estudios en que el grado de dolor tiene una relacion directa con el nivel de disfuncion cognitiva, mientras que no existe total consenso para explicar la influencia de la depresion y ansiedad sobre el funcionamiento cognitivo en estos pacientes.

Disfunción cognitiva en la fibromialgia / Cognitive dysfunction in fibromyalgia

Introducción. Las personas diagnosticadas de fibromialgia refieren de manera muy frecuente quejas sobre su pobre funcionamiento cognitivo. En los últimos años ha aumentado el interés para investigar cuáles son las alteraciones cognitivas presentes en esta enfermedad. Objetivo. Realizar una revisión de las investigaciones publicadas sobre fibromialgia y funciones cognitivas. Desarrollo. Se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica con un intervalo temporal desde 1995 hasta 2012. Los términos de búsqueda incluyeron las palabras clave ‘fibromyalgia’ y ‘cognition’, ‘attention’, ‘memory’, ‘language’, ‘perception’, ‘executive functions’ y ‘disexecutive syndrome’. Se seleccionaron 64 registros tras aplicar criterios de inclusión. Conclusiones. Los estudios que han analizado las funciones cognitivas en las personas diagnosticadas de fibromialgia han sido escasos y mayoritariamente con muestras pequeñas. Se han identificado déficits principalmente en la memoria de trabajo y en las capacidades atencionales más complejas, donde el factor distracción tiene una relevancia importante. También se ha identificado deterioro en la memoria a largo plazo y en las funciones ejecutivas. Existe consenso entre los diversos estudios en que el grado de dolor tiene una relación directa con el nivel de disfunción cognitiva, mientras que no existe total consenso para explicar la influencia de la depresión y ansiedad sobre el funcionamiento cognitivo en estos pacientes (AU)

Introduction. People with a fibromyalgia diagnosis complain of having very poor cognitive functioning. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest to investigate which cognitive impairment is present in this disease. Aim. To review the published research on fibromyalgia and cognitive dysfunction. Development. A literature search was performed with a time interval from 1995 to 2012. Search terms included the keywords ‘fibromyalgia’ and ‘cognition’, ‘attention’, ‘memory’, ‘language’, ‘perception’, ‘executive functions’ and ‘disexecutive syndrome’. 64 records were selected after applying inclusion criteria. Conclusions. Studies that have examined cognitive function in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia have been few and mostly with small samples. Deficits have been identified mainly in working memory and complex attentional functions, where the distraction factor has an important significance. Impairment has also been identified in long-term memory and executive functions. There is consensus among the studies in which the degree of pain is directly related to the level of cognitive dysfunction, while no full consensus to explain the influence of depression and anxiety on cognitive functioning in these patients (AU)