The Brain Health Champion (BHC) Study, COVID-19 sub-study: The impact of COVID-19 on behaviors adopted following interventions to promote brain-healthy activities

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that brain-healthy behaviors, such as exercise, a Mediterranean diet, and cognitive/social stimulation, help protect against the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. We have been studying two interventions (health coach vs. physician education) that promote brain-healthy behaviors in patients with mild dementia (MD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), subjective cognitive decline (SCD), and those at-risk. When COVID-19 occurred, we became interested in determining the extent to which the pandemic may have interfered with brain-healthy behaviors that participants had adopted. We designed a sub-study to investigate the pandemic's effects on adherence to brain-healthy behaviors in participants who completed either intervention in one of our two Brain Health Champion studies (BHC-1, BHC-2). METHOD: Participants from BHC-1 and BHC-2 were emailed questionnaires in September 2020. Of the 25 respondents, 15 (SCD:2, MCI:8, MD:5) were from BHC-1 and 10 (At-risk:5, MCI:5) were from BHC-2. Questionnaires measured changes from the start of the pandemic (March 2020) in self-reported physical activity, diet, and social/cognitive activities, as well as current sleep quality and feelings of anxiety and depression. RESULT: Results demonstrated that the pandemic had negatively impacted physical activity (p=.009) and social interactions (p