Cognitive Processing Speed Is Strongly Related to Driving Skills, Financial Abilities, and Other Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Mild Dementia.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive processing speed is important for performing everyday activities in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, its role in daily function has not been examined while simultaneously accounting for contributions of Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk biomarkers. We examine the relationships of processing speed and genetic and neuroimaging biomarkers to composites of daily function, mobility, and driving. METHOD: We used baseline data from 103 participants on the MCI/mild dementia spectrum from the Applying Programs to Preserve Skills trial. Linear regression models examined relationships of processing speed, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and genetic risk alleles for AD to composites of performance-based instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), community mobility, and on-road driving evaluations. RESULTS: In multivariable models, processing speed and the brain MRI neurodegeneration biomarker Spatial Pattern of Abnormality for Recognition of Early Alzheimer's disease (SPARE-AD) were significantly associated with functional and mobility composite performance. Better processing speed and younger age were associated with on-road driving ratings. Genetic risk markers, left hippocampal atrophy, and white matter lesion volumes were not significant correlates of these abilities. Processing speed had a strong positive association with IADL function (p < .001), mobility (p < .001), and driving (p = .002). CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive processing speed is strongly and consistently associated with critical daily functions in persons with MCI in models including genetic and neuroimaging biomarkers of AD risk. SPARE-AD scores also significantly correlate with IADL performance and mobility. Results highlight the central role of processing speed in everyday task performance among persons with MCI/mild dementia.

Neuropsychological Correlates of Anosognosia for Objective Functional Difficulties in Older Adults on the Mild Cognitive Impairment Spectrum.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the neuropsychological correlates of anosognosia for instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild dementia. METHOD: Participants (n = 103; age range = 54-88, 52% female) with MCI and mild dementia were recruited from neurology and geriatrics clinics for cross-sectional analysis. They completed neuropsychological tests along with subjective and performance-based assessments of six IADLs: financial management, driving, grocery shopping, nutrition evaluation, telephone use, and medication management. For each IADL, participants were classified as having anosognosia when there was objective difficulty but no subjective complaints. RESULTS: Depending on functional domain, 13-39% of the sample had objective IADL difficulty, and of those, 65-93% lacked insight into these deficits. Binomial logistic regression models controlling for demographic variables revealed that measures of global cognition, executive function, visual attention, and verbal memory predicted classification of anosognosia, and these relationships varied across IADLs. In contrast, basic auditory attention, working memory, depressive symptoms, nor cognitive reserve were significantly related to anosognosia for any IADL. CONCLUSION: Results support the Conscious Awareness Model, which theorizes that accurate metacognitive output is reliant on attentional, memory, and executive functioning systems. Findings from this study suggest that anosognosia for different IADLs may arise from breakdowns at varying points in this model, explaining both inter- and intra-patient variability in self-awareness of functional deficits.

Differences in self-awareness of functional deficits between amnestic single- and multidomain mild cognitive impairment.

INTRODUCTION: Prior research examining self-awareness of deficits in those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been inconsistent, suggesting that preservation of insight at this disease stage may be conditional on the domain(s) examined as well as individual characteristics. The current study is the first to examine differences in objective performance and self-awareness of difficulties between older adults with amnestic single- (MCI-ASD) and multidomain MCI (MCI-AMD) across six instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). METHOD: Seventy-five individuals (Mage = 73.9 years, range = 55-88 years; 56% female) with MCI-ASD (n = 30) and MCI-AMD (n = 45) were recruited primarily from a hospital-based memory disorders clinic. Participants were administered self-report and objective measures assessing six functional domains: financial management, driving, telephone use, nutrition evaluation, grocery shopping, and medication management. Self-awareness discrepancy scores were calculated for each of these IADLs, and participants were classified as either "overestimating ability" or "accurately/underestimating ability." RESULTS: Individuals with MCI-AMD performed significantly worse on objective measures of financial management, driving, and nutrition evaluation than those with MCI-ASD. Across MCI subtypes, participants were most likely to lack awareness of their difficulties in nutrition evaluation (31%), financial management (25%), and driving (23%) domains. Individuals with MCI-AMD were significantly more likely than those with MCI-ASD to overestimate performance on driving and telephone use domains. CONCLUSION: Individuals with MCI-AMD are more likely than those with MCI-ASD to have impairment in their everyday function and to lack awareness into their IADL difficulties. When possible, clinicians should obtain objective measures in combination with detailed informant reports of functional abilities in order to evaluate capacity to independently engage in various daily activities. Finally, level of self-awareness varies across IADL domains, providing further evidence that insight is not a unitary construct.

Developing a measure of engagement with telehealth systems: The mHealth Technology Engagement Index.

Introduction Telehealth systems and mobile health (mHealth) devices allow for the exchange of both physical and mental healthcare data, as well as information from a patient to a practitioner, or care recipient to caregiver; but there has been little research on why users are motivated to engage with telehealth systems. Given this, we sought to create a measure that satisfactorily assesses human motivation to use telehealth devices. Methods 532 survey responses were used in an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, which tested and retested the feasibility of this new measure. Convergent and divergent validity analyses indicated that the mHealth Technology Engagement Index (mTEI) is a unique measure of motivation. Results The results indicated that autonomy, competence, relatedness, goal attainment, and goal setting underpin motivation to use telehealth systems. Discussion The mTEI shows promise in indexing human motivation to use telehealth technologies. We also discuss the importance of developing measurement tools based on theory and how practitioners can best utilize the mTEI.