A national prevalence study of early-onset dementia in Japan has provided data on their challenges and support needs, as documented by the individual and their family members. This study examined differences between 1) cases that the onset of early-onset dementia was detected by work colleagues, and 2) other cases.

After identifying medical or long-term care service offices used by people with early-onset dementia in 12 regions in Japan, a questionnaire was distributed to the individuals and their family members. The items surveyed were age at the time of the survey, gender, employment at the onset, age when the initial symptoms were detected, the person who detected the initial symptoms, and consideration received at the workplace. In this report, only those who were working at the onset were included in the analysis. Next, they were divided into two groups according to whether the person who detected the initial symptoms was a colleague or not, and a chi-square test was used to compare the two groups. This study was conducted with the approval of the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine.

Of the 1035 questionnaires collected, 559 were were working at the time of onset of initial symptoms, and 149 (26.7%) of these cases were initially detected by a colleague. Comparison between groups revealed that the cases detected by colleagues 1) were recommended to see an occupational physician (P<0.001), 2) were referred to a specialist (P<0.001), 3) received consideration such as reassignment in the workplace (P<0.001), 4) received consideration regarding transportation (P=0.023), 5) had someone to talk to in the workplace (P<0.001), and 6) were significantly unlikely to receive no consideration at all (P=0.010).

Early-onset dementia was noticed by a colleague due to an increase mistake in the workplace but may have received reasonable accommodations that could have been considered by each workplace. The results of this study may help to promote dementia-friendly workplace strategies.

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).

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.

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.

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.

The Disaster Psychiatric Assistant Team (DPAT) is Japan’s original mental health care dispatched team during disasters. Established in 2013, this team has been involved in the response to many disaster-related mental issues.

We Aimed to evaluate the DPAT activity in response to the past 4 disasters (Ontake volcano, Hiroshima flood, Joso flood, and Kumamoto earthquake), using the disaster mental health information support system (DMHISS).

DMHISS data from the four disasters was extracted. Descriptive statistics were performed from the obtained dataset and the characteristics of the disaster victims from each disaster were compared and examined.

About 2,400 cases were obtained and tabulated to from the database. Based on descriptive statistics, the DPAT support objectives, activities and activity periods Aim to establish (1) the characteristics of the affected areas (population composition, psychiatric medical condition), (2) the scale and content of the disaster (the injured, building damage, number of evacuees), and (3) the activity ability. The number of counseling cases peaked several days after the disaster onset, and the importance of the DPAT activity during the acute phase was confirmed. The time course of the consultation number, which is a measure of the termination, could be predicted from the disaster scale and content. These results suggest that DPAT activity may be a guideline for local disasters for one month and for wide-reaching disasters for two months or longer.

It is suggested that the timing of activity and the termination period could be estimated from factors including the type of disaster, the size of the disaster, and the number of evacuees using the disaster mental health medical activities from four disasters. It should be considered necessary to accumulate data and examine indicators related to the DPAT activity.