Effect of short-term research training programs on medical students' attitudes toward aging.

Strategies to build a larger workforce of physicians dedicated to research on aging are needed. One method to address this shortage of physician scientists in geriatrics is short-term training in aging research for early-stage medical students. The authors examined the effects of two summer research training programs, funded by the National Institutes of Health, on medical students' attitudes toward aging, using the Carolina Opinions on Care of Older Adults (COCOA). The programs combined mentored research, didactics, and some clinical exposure. In a sample of 134 participants, COCOA scores improved significantly after completion of the research training program. There was a significant interaction of gender, such that female students had higher baseline scores than males, but this gender difference in COCOA scores was attenuated following the program. Four of the six COCOA subscales showed significant improvement from baseline: early interest in geriatrics, empathy/compassion, attitudes toward geriatrics careers, and ageism.

Complicated grief after suicide bereavement and other causes of death.

The authors compared baseline demographic characteristics, clinical features, and grief-related thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals bereaved by suicide, accident/homicide and natural causes participating in a complicated grief (CG) treatment clinical trial. Severity of CG and depression and current depression diagnosis did not vary by loss type. After adjusting for baseline demographic features, time since death and relationship to the deceased, those with CG after suicide had the highest rates of lifetime depression, preloss passive suicidal ideation, self-blaming thoughts, and impaired work and social adjustment. Even among this treatment-seeking sample of research participants with CG, suicide survivors may face unique challenges.

Age-Friendly Communities Initiative: Public Health Approach to Promoting Successful Aging.

Older adults consistently prefer aging in place, which requires a high level of community support and services that are currently lacking. With a rapidly aging population, the present infrastructure for healthcare will prove even more inadequate to meet seniors' physical and mental health needs. A paradigm shift away from the sole focus on delivery of interventions at an individual level to more prevention-focused, community-based approaches will become essential. Recent initiatives have been proposed to promote healthy lifestyles and preventive care to enable older adults to age in place. Prominent among these are the World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) Network, with 287 communities in 33 countries, and AARP's Network of AFCs with 77 communities in the United States. In an AFC, older adults are actively involved, valued, and supported with necessary infrastructure and services. Specific criteria include affordable housing, safe outdoor spaces and built environments conducive to active living, inexpensive and convenient transportation options, opportunities for social participation and community leadership, and accessible health and wellness services. Active, culture-based approaches, supported and developed by local communities, and including an intergenerational component are important. This article provides a brief historical background, discusses the conceptualization of the AFC, offers a list of criteria, narrates case studies of AFCs in various stages of development, and suggests solutions to common challenges to becoming age-friendly. Academic geriatric psychiatry needs to play a major role in the evolving AFC movement to ensure that mental healthcare is considered and delivered on par with physical care.

Bereavement: course, consequences, and care.

This paper discusses each of several potential consequences of bereavement. First, we describe ordinary grief, followed by a discussion of grief gone awry, or complicated grief (CG). Then, we cover other potential adverse outcomes of bereavement, each of which may contribute to, but are not identical with, CG: general medical comorbidity, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and substance use.

Outcomes of Randomized Clinical Trials of Interventions to Enhance Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Components of Wisdom: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Wisdom is a neurobiological personality trait made up of specific components, including prosocial behaviors, emotional regulation, and spirituality. It is associated with greater well-being and happiness. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to enhance individual components of wisdom. Data Sources: MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases were searched for articles published through December 31, 2018. Study Eligibility Criteria: Randomized clinical trials that sought to enhance a component of wisdom, used published measures to assess that component, were published in English, had a minimum sample size of 40 participants, and presented data that enabled computation of effect sizes were included in this meta-analysis. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Random-effect models were used to calculate pooled standardized mean differences (SMDs) for each wisdom component and random-effects meta-regression to assess heterogeneity of studies. Main Outcomes and Measures: Improvement in wisdom component using published measures. Results: Fifty-seven studies (N = 7096 participants) met review criteria: 29 for prosocial behaviors, 13 for emotional regulation, and 15 for spirituality. Study samples included people with psychiatric or physical illnesses and from the community. Of the studies, 27 (47%) reported significant improvement with medium to large effect sizes. Meta-analysis revealed significant pooled SMDs for prosocial behaviors (23 studies; pooled SMD, 0.43 [95% CI, 0.22-0.3]; P = .02), emotional regulation (12 studies; pooled SMD, 0.67 [95% CI, 0.21-1.12]; P = .004), and spirituality (12 studies; pooled SMD, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.41-1.60]; P = .001). Heterogeneity of studies was considerable for all wisdom components. Publication bias was present for prosocial behavior and emotional regulation studies; after adjusting for it, the pooled SMD for prosocial behavior remained significant (SMD, 0.4 [95% CI, 0.16-0.78]; P = .003). Meta-regression analysis found that effect sizes did not vary by wisdom component, although for trials on prosocial behaviors, large effect sizes were associated with older mean participant age (ß, 0.08 [SE, 0.04]), and the reverse was true for spirituality trials (ß, -0.13 [SE, 0.04]). For spirituality interventions, higher-quality trials had larger effect sizes (ß, 4.17 [SE, 1.07]), although the reverse was true for prosocial behavior trials (ß, -0.91 [SE 0.44]). Conclusions and Relevance: Interventions to enhance spirituality, emotional regulation, and prosocial behaviors are effective in a proportion of people with mental or physical illnesses and from the community. The modern behavioral epidemics of loneliness, suicide, and opioid abuse point to a growing need for wisdom-enhancing interventions to promote individual and societal well-being.

A new scale for assessing wisdom based on common domains and a neurobiological model: The San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE).

Wisdom is an ancient concept that has gained new interest among clinical researchers as a complex trait relevant to well-being and healthy aging. As the empirical data regarding wisdom have grown, several measures have been used to assess an individual's level of wisdom. However, none of these measures has been based on a construct of wisdom with neurobiological underpinnings. We sought to develop a new scale, the San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE), which builds upon recent gains in the understanding of psychological and neurobiological models of the trait. Data were collected from 524 community-dwelling adults age 25-104 years as part of a structured multi-cohort study of adult lifespan. Participants were administered the SD-WISE along with two existing measures of wisdom that have been shown to have good psychometric properties. Factor analyses confirmed the hypothesized measurement model. SD-WISE total scores were reliable, demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity, and correlated, as hypothesized, negatively with emotional distress, but positively with well-being. However, the magnitudes of these associations were small, suggesting that the SD-WISE is not just a global measure of mental state. The results support the reliability and validity of SD-WISE scores. Study limitations are discussed. The SD-WISE, with good psychometric properties, a brief administration time, and a measurement model that is consistent with commonly cited content domains of wisdom based on a putative neurobiological model, may be useful in clinical practice as well as in bio-psycho-social research, especially investigations into the neurobiology of wisdom and experimental interventions to enhance wisdom.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cognition in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is very common in Parkinson's disease (PD). OSA is known to affect patients' cognition. The present study assessed whether PD patients with OSA (PD + OSA) score lower on cognitive measures than those without OSA (PD - OSA). In addition, this study evaluated whether treating the OSA with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in PD + OSA patients results in an improved cognitive functioning. METHODS: Eighty-six patients with PD underwent an overnight polysomnography screen for OSA and were administered the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). This resulted in 38 patients with PD + OSA who were randomly assigned to receive either therapeutic CPAP for 6 weeks (n = 19) or placebo CPAP for three weeks followed by therapeutic CPAP for three weeks (n = 19). Intervention participants completed a neurocognitive battery at baseline and 3- and 6-week time-points. RESULTS: Patients with PD + OSA scored significantly lower than PD - OSA on the MMSE and MoCA after controlling for age, education, and PD severity. OSA was a significant predictor of cognition (MMSE p <0.01; MoCA p = 0.028).There were no significant changes between groups in cognition when comparing three weeks of therapeutic CPAP with 3 weeks of placebo CPAP. Comparisons between pre-treatment and 3-week post-therapeutic CPAP for the entire sample also revealed no significant changes on overall neuropsychological (NP) scores. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that PD patients with OSA show worse cognitive functioning on cognitive screening measures than those without OSA. However, OSA treatment after three or six weeks of CPAP may not result in overall cognitive improvement in patients with PD.

Parkinson's disease and REM sleep behavior disorder result in increased non-motor symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: Rapid eye movement (REM)-sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is often comorbid with Parkinson's disease (PD). The current study aimed to provide a detailed understanding of the impact of having RBD on multiple non-motor symptoms (NMS) in patients with PD. METHODS: A total of 86 participants were evaluated for RBD and assessed for multiple NMS of PD. Principal component analysis was utilized to model multiple measures of NMS in PD, and a multivariate analysis of variance was used to assess the relationship between RBD and the multiple NMS measures. Seven NMS measures were assessed: cognition, quality of life, fatigue, sleepiness, overall sleep, mood, and overall NMS of PD. RESULTS: Among the PD patients, 36 were classified as having RBD (objective polysomnography and subjective findings), 26 as not having RBD (neither objective nor subjective findings), and 24 as probably having RBD (either subjective or objective findings). RBD was a significant predictor of increased NMS in PD while controlling for dopaminergic therapy and age (p=0.01). The RBD group reported more NMS of depression (p=0.012), fatigue (p=0.036), overall sleep (p=0.018), and overall NMS (p=0.002). CONCLUSION: In PD, RBD is associated with more NMS, particularly increased depressive symptoms, sleep disturbances, and fatigue. More research is needed to assess whether PD patients with RBD represent a subtype of PD with different disease progression and phenomenological presentation.

Continuous positive airway pressure improves sleep and daytime sleepiness in patients with Parkinson disease and sleep apnea.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), common in Parkinson disease (PD), contributes to sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness. We assessed the effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on OSA, sleep, and daytime sleepiness in patients with PD. DESIGN: This was a randomized placebo-controlled, crossover design. Patients with PD and OSA were randomized into 6 w of therapeutic treatment or 3 w of placebo followed by 3 w of therapeutic treatment. Patients were evaluated by polysomnography (PSG) and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) pretreatment (baseline), after 3 w, and after 6 w of CPAP treatment. Analyses included mixed models, paired analysis, and within-group analyses comparing 3 w to 6 w of treatment. SETTING: Sleep laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-eight patients with PD (mean age = 67.2 ± 9.2 y; 12 females). INTERVENTION: Continuous positive airway pressure. MEASUREMENTS: PSG OUTCOME MEASURES: sleep efficiency, %sleep stages (N1, N2, N3, R), arousal index, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), and % time oxygen saturation < 90% (%time SaO2 < 90%). MSLT outcome measures: mean sleep-onset latency (MSL). RESULTS: There were significant group-by-time interactions for AHI (P < 0.001), % time SaO2 < 90% (P = 0.02), %N2 (P = 0.015) and %N3 (P = 0.014). Subjects receiving therapeutic CPAP showed significant decrease in AHI, %time SaO2 < 90%, %N2, and significant increase in %N3 indicating effectiveness of CPAP in the treatment of OSA, improvement in nighttime oxygenation, and in deepening sleep. The paired sample analyses revealed that 3 w of therapeutic treatment resulted in significant decreases in arousal index (t = 3.4, P = 0.002). All improvements after 3 w were maintained at 6 w. Finally, 3 w of therapeutic CPAP also resulted in overall decreases in daytime sleepiness (P = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic continuous positive airway pressure versus placebo was effective in reducing apnea events, improving oxygen saturation, and deepening sleep in patients with Parkinson disease and obstructive sleep apnea. Additionally, arousal index was reduced and effects were maintained at 6 weeks. Finally, 3 weeks of continuous positive airway pressure treatment resulted in reduced daytime sleepiness measured by multiple sleep latency test. These results emphasize the importance of identifying and treating obstructive sleep apnea in patients with Parkinson disease.

Actigraphy for the assessment of sleep measures in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the usefulness of actigraphy for assessment of nighttime sleep measures in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). DESIGN: Participants underwent overnight sleep assessment simultaneously by polysomnography (PSG) and actigraphy. SETTING: Overnight sleep study in academic sleep research laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-one patients (mean age 67.74 ± 8.88 y) with mild to moderate PD. MEASUREMENTS: Sleep measures including total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep onset latency (SOL) were calculated independently from data derived from PSG and from actigraphy. Different actigraphy scoring settings were compared. RESULTS: No single tested actigraphy scoring setting was optimal for all sleep measures. A customized setting of an activity threshold of 10, with five consecutive immobile minutes for sleep onset, yielded the combination of mean TST, SE, and WASO values that best approximated mean values determined by PSG with differences of 6.05 ± 85.67 min for TST, 1.1 ± 0.641% for SE, and 4.35 ± 59.56 min for WASO. There were significant but moderate correlations between actigraphy and PSG measurements (rs = 0.496, P < 0.001 for TST, rs = 0.384, P = 0.002 for SE, and rs = 0.400, P = 0.001 for WASO) using these settings. Greater disease stage was associated with greater differences between TST (R(2) = 0.099, beta = 0.315, P = 0.018), SE (R(2) = 0.107, beta = 0.327, P = 0.014), and WASO (R(2) = 0.094, beta = 0.307, P = 0.021) values derived by actigraphy and PSG explaining some of the variability. Using a setting of 10 immobile min for sleep onset yielded a mean SOL that was within 1 min of that estimated by PSG. However SOL values determined by actigraphy and PSG were not significantly correlated at any tested setting. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that actigraphy may be useful for measurement of mean TST, SE, and WASO values in groups of patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease. However, there is a significant degree of variability in accuracy among individual patients. The importance of determining optimal scoring parameters for each population studied is underscored.

Effects of sleep disorders on the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of sleep disorders on non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study. Patients with PD were evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), periodic limb movement syndrome (PLMS), and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). Cognition was assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and patients completed self-reported questionnaires assessing non-motor symptoms including depressive symptoms, fatigue, sleep complaints, daytime sleepiness, and quality of life. SETTING: Sleep laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: 86 patients with PD (mean age = 67.4 ± 8.8 years; range: 47-89; 29 women). INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Having sleep disorders was a predictor of overall non-motor symptoms in PD (R(2) = 0.33, p < 0.001) while controlling for age, PD severity, and dopaminergic therapy. These analyses revealed that RBD (p = 0.006) and RLS (p = 0.014) were significant predictors of increased non-motor symptoms, but OSA was not. More specifically, having a sleep disorder significantly predicted sleep complaints (ΔR(2) = 0.13, p = 0.006), depressive symptoms (ΔR(2) = 0.01, p = 0.03), fatigue (ΔR(2) = 0.12, p = 0.007), poor quality of life (ΔR(2) = 0.13, p = 0.002), and cognitive decline (ΔR(2) = 0.09, p = 0.036). Additionally, increasing number of sleep disorders (0, 1, or ≥ 2 sleep disorders) was a significant contributor to non-motor symptom impairment (R(2) = 0.28, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In this study of PD patients, presence of comorbid sleep disorders predicted more non-motor symptoms including increased sleep complaints, more depressive symptoms, lower quality of life, poorer cognition, and more fatigue. RBD and RLS were factors of overall increased non-motor symptoms, but OSA was not.