Impact of the COVID‐19 Pandemic on Dementia Research Participants

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe impact of COVID‐19 on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) research participation is not fully known. Individual differences in stress and coping may impact research findings (Goldfarb, 2020). It is possible that participants with questionable cognitive impairment (QCI) may be more vulnerable to stress and loss to follow up. The objective of this study is to examine the differential impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on dementia research participants among individuals with varying degrees of cognitive impairment.MethodThe COVID‐19 impact survey was mailed to participants of the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) in August 2020. The survey asked questions related to feelings about the pandemic and how it impacted willingness to participate in research. Fisher’s exact test was used to compare responses across diagnostic groups. All analyses were conducted using SAS software, version 9.4.ResultOf 115 participants (69.6% female, 52.2% non‐White), 38 had normal cognition, 38 had questionable cognitive impairment (QCI; defined as having one or more neuropsychological tests that was slightly low but did not rise to the threshold of impairment), 16 had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 22 had dementia (Table 1). Overall, 9% of the participants were very or extremely worried about getting COVID‐19, 19% felt very or extremely isolated, 36% felt the pandemic had been very or extremely disruptive. The pandemic changed willingness to participate in research at least a little for 50% and very much or extremely for 13%. Impaired participants (either MCI or dementia) were less concerned about getting COVID‐19 and felt less isolated than those with normal cognition or QCI (Table 2). A higher percentage of those with QCI (vs. normal cognition or impaired groups) felt that the pandemic was very or extremely disruptive. Although not statistically significant, a higher percentage of those with QCI also reported that the pandemic changed their willingness to participate in in‐person research very much or extremely.ConclusionThe COVID‐19 pandemic was more disruptive to participants with QCI than participants with normal or impaired cognition. More research is needed to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on dementia research participants.