Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T23:47:03.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationships between the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and regional brain atrophy in mild cognitive impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2022

Takumi Takahashi Open the ORCID record for Takumi Takahashi [Opens in a new window] ,
Miho Ota ,
Yuriko Numata ,
Ayako Kitabatake ,
Kiyotaka Nemoto ,
Masashi Tamura ,
Masayuki Ide ,
Asaki Matsuzaki ,
Yuko Kaneda  and
Tetsuaki Arai
Takumi Takahashi
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, University of Tsukuba Hospital, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Miho Ota*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Yuriko Numata
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba Hospital, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Ayako Kitabatake
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba Hospital, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Kiyotaka Nemoto
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Masashi Tamura
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Masayuki Ide
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Asaki Matsuzaki
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Yuko Kaneda
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba Hospital, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Tetsuaki Arai
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
*
Author for correspondence: Miho Ota, Email: ota@md.tsukuba.ac.jp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Several studies have reported that the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) influenced cognitive function in the elderly. However, the effect of COVID-19-related fear on brain atrophy has not been evaluated. In this study, we evaluated the relation between brain atrophy and the effect of COVID-19-related fear by analysing changes in brain volume over time using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods:

Participants were 25 Japanese patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or subjective cognitive decline (SCD), who underwent 1.5-tesla MRI scan twice, once before and once after the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, and the Fear of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Scale (FCV-19S) assessment during that period. We computed regional brain atrophy per day between the 1st and 2nd scan, and evaluated the relation between the FCV-19S scores and regional shrinkage.

Results:

There was significant positive correlation between the total FCV-19S score and volume reduction per day in the right posterior cingulate cortex. Regarding the subscales of FCV-19S, we found significant positive correlation between factor 2 of the FCV-19S and shrinkage of the right posterior cingulate cortex.

Conclusions:

There was positive correlation between the FCV-19S score and regional brain atrophy per day. Although it is already known that the psychological effects surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic cause cognitive function decline, our results further suggest that anxiety and fear related to COVID-19 cause regional brain atrophy.

Keywords

brain atrophyCOVID-19Freesurferthe Fear of COVID-19 Scale
Type
Original Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 153 - 162
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahorsu, DK, Lin, CY, Imani, V, Saffari, M, Griffiths, MD and Pakpour, AH (2020) The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: development and initial validation. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1–9. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8.Google ScholarPubMed
Alonso-Lana, S, Marquié, M, Ruiz, A and Boada, M (2020) Cognitive and neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 and effects on elderly individuals with dementia. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 12, 588872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barguilla, A, Fernández-Lebrero, A, Estragués-Gázquez, I, García-Escobar, G, Navalpotro-Gómez, I, Manero, RM, Puente-Periz, V, Roquer, J and Puig-Pijoan, A (2020) Effects of COVID-19 pandemic confinement in patients with cognitive impairment. Frontiers in Neurology 11, 589901.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blackmon, K, Barr, WB, Carlson, C, Devinsky, O, DuBois, J, Pogash, D, Quinn, BT, Kuzniecky, R, Halgren, E, Thesen, T (2011) Structural evidence for involvement of a left amygdala-orbitofrontal network in subclinical anxiety. Psychiatry Research 194(3), 296–303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boutoleau-Bretonnière, C, Pouclet-Courtemanche, H, Gillet, A, Bernard, A, Deruet, AL, Gouraud, I, Mazoue, A, Lamy, E, Rocher, L, Kapogiannis, D, El Haj, M (2020) The effects of confinement on neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease during the COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Alzheimers Disease 76(1), 41–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Canevelli, M, Valletta, M, Toccaceli Blasi, M, Remoli, G, Sarti, G, Nuti, F, Sciancalepore, F, Ruberti, E, Cesari, M, Bruno, G (2020) Facing dementia during the COVID-19 outbreak. Journal of The American Geriatrics Society 68(8), 1673–1676.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Furukawa, K, Ootsuki, M, Kodama, M and Arai, H (2012) Exacerbation of dementia after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Journal of Neurology 259(6), 1243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hikichi, H, Tsuboya, T, Aida, J, Matsuyama, Y, Kondo, K, Subramanian, SV and Kawachi, I (2017) Social capital and cognitive decline in the aftermath of a natural disaster: a natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Lancet Planet Health 1(3), e105–e113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ideno, Y, Takayama, M, Hayashi, K, Takagi, H and Sugai, Y (2012) Evaluation of a Japanese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination in elderly persons. Geriatrics & Gerontology International 12(2), 310–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ismail, II, Kamel, WA and Al-Hashel, JY (2021) Association of COVID-19 pandemic and rate of cognitive decline in patients with dementia and mild cognitive impairment: a cross-sectional study. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine 7(4), 23337214211005223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jessen, F, Amariglio, RE, van Boxtel, M, Breteler, M, Ceccaldi, M, Chételat, G, Dubois, B, Dufouil, C, Ellis, KA, van der Flier, WM, Glodzik, L, van Harten, AC, de Leon, MJ, McHugh, P, Mielke, MM, Molinuevo, JL, Mosconi, L, Osorio, RS, Perrotin, A, Petersen, RC, Rabin, LA, Rami, L, Reisberg, B, Rentz, DM, Sachdev, PS, de la Sayette, V, Saykin, AJ, Scheltens, P, Shulman, MB, Slavin, MJ, Sperling, RA, Stewart, R, Uspenskaya, O, Vellas, B, Visser, PJ, Wagner, M and Group, SCDIS-IW (2014) A conceptual framework for research on subjective cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers & Dementia 10(6), 844–852.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johansson, M, Stomrud, E, Lindberg, O, Westman, E, Johansson, PM, van Westen, D, Mattsson, N and Hansson, O (2020) Apathy and anxiety are early markers of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiology of Aging 85, 74–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, BF, Barnes, J, Uylings, HB, Fox, NC, Frost, C, Witter, MP and Scheltens, P (2006) Differential regional atrophy of the cingulate gyrus in Alzheimer disease: a volumetric MRI study. Cerebral Cortex 16(12), 1701–1708.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ke, J, Chen, F, Qi, R, Xu, Q, Zhong, Y, Chen, L, Li, J, Zhang, L and Lu, G (2017) Post-traumatic stress influences local and remote functional connectivity: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Brain Imaging and Behavior 11(5), 1316–1325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laird, KT, Siddarth, P, Krause-Sorio, B, Kilpatrick, L, Milillo, M, Aguilar, Y, Narr, KL and Lavretsky, H (2019) Anxiety symptoms are associated with smaller insular and orbitofrontal cortex volumes in late-life depression. Journal of Affective Disorders 256(4), 282–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lara, B, Carnes, A, Dakterzada, F, Benitez, I and Piñol-Ripoll, G (2020) Neuropsychiatric symptoms and quality of life in Spanish patients with Alzheimer’s disease during the COVID-19 lockdown. European Journal of Neurology 27(9), 1744–1747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leech, R and Sharp, DJ (2014) The role of the posterior cingulate cortex in cognition and disease. Brain 137(Pt 1), 12–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Livingston, G, Huntley, J, Sommerlad, A, Ames, D, Ballard, C, Banerjee, S, Brayne, C, Burns, A, Cohen-Mansfield, J, Cooper, C, Costafreda, SG, Dias, A, Fox, N, Gitlin, LN, Howard, R, Kales, HC, Kivimäki, M, Larson, EB, Ogunniyi, A, Orgeta, V, Ritchie, K, Rockwood, K, Sampson, EL, Samus, Q, Schneider, LS, Selbæk, G, Teri, L and Mukadam, N (2020) Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission. Lancet 396(10248), 413–446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mah, L, Binns, MA, Steffens, DC and Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (2015) Anxiety symptoms in amnestic mild cognitive impairment are associated with medial temporal atrophy and predict conversion to Alzheimer disease. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 23(5), 466–476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mahalaxmi, I, Kaavya, J, Mohana Devi, S and Balachandar, V (2021) COVID-19 and olfactory dysfunction: a possible associative approach towards neurodegenerative diseases. Journal of Cellular Physiology 236(2), 763–770.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masuyama, A, Shinkawa, H and Kubo, T (2020) Validation and psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the fear of COVID-19 scale among adolescents. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1–11. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00368-z.Google ScholarPubMed
Midorikawa, H, Aiba, M, Lebowitz, A, Taguchi, T, Shiratori, Y, Ogawa, T, Takahashi, A, Takahashi, S, Nemoto, K, Arai, T, Tachikawa, H (2021) Confirming validity of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale in Japanese with a nationwide large-scale sample. PLoS One 16(2), e0246840.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miners, S, Kehoe, PG and Love, S (2020) Cognitive impact of COVID-19: looking beyond the short term. Alzheimers Research & Therapy 12(1), 170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morris, JC (1993) The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR): current version and scoring rules. Neurology 43(11), 2412–2414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nemoto, K, Dan, I, Rorden, C, Ohnishi, T, Tsuzuki, D, Okamoto, M, Yamashita, F and Asada, T (2011) Lin4Neuro: a customized Linux distribution ready for neuroimaging analysis. BMC Medical Imaging 11, 3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Niimi, Y, Arai, T, Awata, S, Katayama, S, Tomimoto, H, Togo, T, Nakanishi, A, Hanyu, H, Fukui, T, Fujimoto, N, Yamada, M, Mori, H, Haruhiko, A (2021) Report on the results of a questionnaire survey for specialists of the Japanese Society for Dementia regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dementia care. Dementia Japan 35, 73–85. https://www.sasappa.co.jp/online/abstract/jsdr/1/35-1/html/10103501010.html Google Scholar
Paliwal, VK, Garg, RK, Gupta, A and Tejan, N (2020) Neuromuscular presentations in patients with COVID-19. Neurological Sciences 41(11), 3039–3056.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petersen, RC (2004) Mild cognitive impairment as a diagnostic entity. Journal of Internal Medicine 256(3), 183–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scahill, RI, Schott, JM, Stevens, JM, Rossor, MN and Fox, NC (2002) Mapping the evolution of regional atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease: unbiased analysis of fluid-registered serial MRI. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99(7), 4703–4707.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Serafini, G, Parmigiani, B, Amerio, A, Aguglia, A, Sher, L and Amore, M (2020) The psychological impact of COVID-19 on the mental health in the general population. QJM 113(8), 531–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shahid, Z, Kalayanamitra, R, McClafferty, B, Kepko, D, Ramgobin, D, Patel, R, Aggarwal, CS, Vunnam, R, Sahu, N, Bhatt, D, Jones, K, Golamari, R, Jain, R (2020) COVID-19 and older adults: what we know. Journal of The American Geriatrics Society 68(5), 926–929.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Talevi, D, Socci, V, Carai, M, Carnaghi, G, Faleri, S, Trebbi, E, di Bernardo, A, Capelli, F and Pacitti, F (2020) Mental health outcomes of the CoViD-19 pandemic. Rivista Di Psichiatria 55(3), 137–144.Google ScholarPubMed
Tang, X, Holland, D, Dale, AM, Younes, L, Miller, MI and Initiative, As DN (2015) The diffeomorphometry of regional shape change rates and its relevance to cognitive deterioration in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Human Brain Mapping 36(6), 2093–2117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valotassiou, V, Malamitsi, J, Papatriantafyllou, J, Dardiotis, E, Tsougos, I, Psimadas, D, Alexiou, S, Hadjigeorgiou, G and Georgoulias, P (2018) SPECT and PET imaging in Alzheimer’s disease. Annals of Nuclear Medicine 32(9), 583–593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wakashima, K, Asai, K, Kobayashi, D, Koiwa, K, Kamoshida, S and Sakuraba, M (2020) The Japanese version of the fear of COVID-19 scale: reliability, validity, and relation to coping behavior. PLoS One 15(11), e0241958.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, J, Yin, Y, Svob, C, Long, J, He, X, Zhang, Y, Xu, Z, Li, L, Liu, J, Dong, J, Zhang, Z, Wang, Z, Yuan, Y (2017) Amygdala atrophy and its functional disconnection with the cortico-striatal-pallidal-thalamic circuit in major depressive disorder in females. PLoS One 12(1), e0168239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, L, Li, W, Shu, N, Zheng, H, Zhang, Z, Zhang, Y, He, Z, Hou, C, Li, Z, Liu, J, Wang, L, Duan, L, Jiang, T, Li, L (2012) Increased white matter integrity of posterior cingulate gyrus in the evolution of post-traumatic stress disorder. Acta Neuropsychiatrica 24(1), 34–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed