Background: The Sars-Cov-2 pandemic has accelerated the spreading of telemedicine, including TeleNeuroPsychology (TNP). Also in a non-pandemic scenario, TNP gives the advantage of reaching older subjects, which often ...Background: The Sars-Cov-2 pandemic has accelerated the spreading of telemedicine, including TeleNeuroPsychology (TNP). Also in a non-pandemic scenario, TNP gives the advantage of reaching older subjects, which often have mobility or transportation limitations. Previous studies on the feasibility, acceptability and reliability of TNP provide promising indications. However, it remains unclear how elderly populations in Italy welcome this practice, in particular when carried out “direct-to-home” (DTH neuropsychology—DTH-NP), hence without assistance in setting up, i.e., the videoconference, and which tests validated in Italian populations show good comparability between remote (either by voice phone call or videoconference) and face-to-face administration. Aims: Here we present a study protocol aimed at assessing: 1) the recruitment rate in a study on DTH neuropsychological assessment through voice calls or videoconference, 2) the feasibility and acceptability of a DTH neuropsychological assessment, 3) the comparability between DTH and face-to-face neuropsychological assessments. Methods: Fifty-eight older adults (65 - 85 years) were recruited among donors of the Abbiategrasso Brain Bank and will undergo both a face-to-face and a DTH neuropsychological assessment in a counterbalanced cross-over design (Group 1: remote session first;Group 2: face-to-face session first). Recruitment rate will be first evaluated. Then, the responses to an acceptability questionnaire will be compared between the two administration modalities. Finally, the DTH-face-to-face comparability will be evaluated as good reliability of a DTH neuropsychological assessment and agreement between scores obtained in the two modalities. Discussion and Conclusion: This study protocol aims at describing the procedures allowing a more reliable implementation of DTH-NP in the Italian clinical and research contexts. The inclusion of both phone-call and videoconference DTH neuropsychological assessment will give the opportunity to evaluate the feasibility of DTH-NP also in older adults with low digital skills. The results of the comparability analysis will offer the first evidence in the Italian context on which neuropsychological tests can be reliably delivered DTH, by phone call or videoconference.展开更多
Background: Awareness of hearing disability in the elderly has adverse cognitive and functional consequences over time, in a longitudinal population-based study. Aim: To analyze the hypothesis that over time old peopl...Background: Awareness of hearing disability in the elderly has adverse cognitive and functional consequences over time, in a longitudinal population-based study. Aim: To analyze the hypothesis that over time old people aware of hearing disability make less use of technology and lose more instrumental activities of daily living than peers with other self-reported hearing conditions. Methods: We analyzed 1171 healthy participants in the longitudinal population-based InveCe.Ab study. The consistency between self-reported hearing loss with clinician-evaluated hearing status (Whispered Voice Test;WVT), was categorized by consistency as: unaware of hearing loss (UHL), aware of hearing loss (AHL), only subjective hearing loss (OSHL), without hearing loss (noHL). Results: At baseline (2010), hearing loss was found in 159 [13.6% (95% CI: 11.7 - 15.7)] of the participants [28 = 17.6% (95% CI: 12.0 - 24.4) AHL;131 = 82.4% (95% CI: 75.6 - 88) UHL], while 23 [2.3% (95% CI: 1.4 - 3.4)] of the subjects with normal WVT had OSHL. Mobile phone usage was significantly associated with different consistency categories (p i.e. executive, memory and visuo-spatial) were independently associated with maintaining mobile phone usage and instrumental activities of daily living. Conclusion: Self-reported hearing disability is linked to subsequent loss of mobile phone usage and functional dependency. As cognitive performances independently influence technology usage and functional impairment, targeted preventive interventions should address functional impact of perceived hearing loss, but also encourage social participation and improve mobile phone usage. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01345110;registered on April 29, 2011.展开更多
文摘Background: The Sars-Cov-2 pandemic has accelerated the spreading of telemedicine, including TeleNeuroPsychology (TNP). Also in a non-pandemic scenario, TNP gives the advantage of reaching older subjects, which often have mobility or transportation limitations. Previous studies on the feasibility, acceptability and reliability of TNP provide promising indications. However, it remains unclear how elderly populations in Italy welcome this practice, in particular when carried out “direct-to-home” (DTH neuropsychology—DTH-NP), hence without assistance in setting up, i.e., the videoconference, and which tests validated in Italian populations show good comparability between remote (either by voice phone call or videoconference) and face-to-face administration. Aims: Here we present a study protocol aimed at assessing: 1) the recruitment rate in a study on DTH neuropsychological assessment through voice calls or videoconference, 2) the feasibility and acceptability of a DTH neuropsychological assessment, 3) the comparability between DTH and face-to-face neuropsychological assessments. Methods: Fifty-eight older adults (65 - 85 years) were recruited among donors of the Abbiategrasso Brain Bank and will undergo both a face-to-face and a DTH neuropsychological assessment in a counterbalanced cross-over design (Group 1: remote session first;Group 2: face-to-face session first). Recruitment rate will be first evaluated. Then, the responses to an acceptability questionnaire will be compared between the two administration modalities. Finally, the DTH-face-to-face comparability will be evaluated as good reliability of a DTH neuropsychological assessment and agreement between scores obtained in the two modalities. Discussion and Conclusion: This study protocol aims at describing the procedures allowing a more reliable implementation of DTH-NP in the Italian clinical and research contexts. The inclusion of both phone-call and videoconference DTH neuropsychological assessment will give the opportunity to evaluate the feasibility of DTH-NP also in older adults with low digital skills. The results of the comparability analysis will offer the first evidence in the Italian context on which neuropsychological tests can be reliably delivered DTH, by phone call or videoconference.
文摘Background: Awareness of hearing disability in the elderly has adverse cognitive and functional consequences over time, in a longitudinal population-based study. Aim: To analyze the hypothesis that over time old people aware of hearing disability make less use of technology and lose more instrumental activities of daily living than peers with other self-reported hearing conditions. Methods: We analyzed 1171 healthy participants in the longitudinal population-based InveCe.Ab study. The consistency between self-reported hearing loss with clinician-evaluated hearing status (Whispered Voice Test;WVT), was categorized by consistency as: unaware of hearing loss (UHL), aware of hearing loss (AHL), only subjective hearing loss (OSHL), without hearing loss (noHL). Results: At baseline (2010), hearing loss was found in 159 [13.6% (95% CI: 11.7 - 15.7)] of the participants [28 = 17.6% (95% CI: 12.0 - 24.4) AHL;131 = 82.4% (95% CI: 75.6 - 88) UHL], while 23 [2.3% (95% CI: 1.4 - 3.4)] of the subjects with normal WVT had OSHL. Mobile phone usage was significantly associated with different consistency categories (p i.e. executive, memory and visuo-spatial) were independently associated with maintaining mobile phone usage and instrumental activities of daily living. Conclusion: Self-reported hearing disability is linked to subsequent loss of mobile phone usage and functional dependency. As cognitive performances independently influence technology usage and functional impairment, targeted preventive interventions should address functional impact of perceived hearing loss, but also encourage social participation and improve mobile phone usage. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01345110;registered on April 29, 2011.
