Background

During Covid-19 pandemic, the Italian government adopted restrictive limitations and declared a national lockdown on March 9, which lasted until May 4 and produced dramatic consequences on people’s lives. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of prolonged lockdown on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).

Methods

Between April 30 and June 8, 2020, we interviewed with a telephone-based questionnaire the caregivers of the community-dwelling patients with dementia who had their follow-up visit scheduled from March 9 to May 15 and canceled due to lockdown. Among the information collected, patients’ BPSDs were assessed by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). Non-parametric tests to compare differences between NPI scores over time and logistic regression models to explore the impact of different factors on BPSD worsening were performed.

Results

A total of 109 visits were canceled and 94/109 caregivers completed the interview. Apathy, irritability, agitation and aggression, and depression were the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms experienced by patients both at baseline and during Covid-19 pandemic. Changes in total NPI and caregiver distress scores between baseline and during lockdown, although statistically significant, were overall modest. The logistic regression model failed to determine predictors of BPSD worsening during lockdown.

Conclusion

This is one of the first studies to investigate the presence of BPSD during SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and related nationwide lockdown, showing only slight, likely not clinically relevant, differences in BPSD burden, concerning mostly agitation and aggression, anxiety, apathy and indifference, and irritability.

中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2爆发期间锁定对痴呆行为和心理症状的影响

背景

在Covid-19大流行期间，意大利政府采取了限制性限制措施，并于3月9日宣布全国封锁，该封锁一直持续到5月4日，对人们的生活造成了重大影响。我们研究的目的是评估长期锁定对痴呆症的行为和心理症状的影响。

方法

在2020年4月30日至6月8日之间，我们通过电话调查表采访了社区痴呆患者的照护者，他们的随访时间定于3月9日至5月15日，并因封锁而取消。在收集的信息中，患者的BPSD通过神经精神病学清单（NPI）进行评估。进行非参数测试以比较NPI得分随时间的差异，并进行逻辑回归模型以探讨不同因素对BPSD恶化的影响。

结果

总共取消了109次就诊，并且94/109位护理人员完成了采访。在基线期和Covid-19大流行期间，患者最常出现的冷漠，烦躁，躁动，攻击性和沮丧感是神经精神症状。基线与锁定期间之间的总NPI和看护者痛苦分数的变化虽然具有统计学意义，但总体上是中等的。逻辑回归模型无法确定锁定期间BPSD恶化的预测因素。

结论

这是调查SARS-CoV-2爆发期间和全国范围内封锁期间BPSD的存在的首批研究之一，显示BPSD负担仅有细微差异（可能与临床无关），主要涉及激动和攻击性，焦虑，冷漠和冷漠和烦躁。