ArticleSSM. Mental health2022
Acute relationships between mental health and cognitive function during the COVID-19 pandemic: Longitudinal evidence from middle-aged and older US adults.
Article in SSM. Mental health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Aging in rural communities: Engagement in indoor leisure activities and older adult health.PloS one · 2025Trial
- Unraveling the Effects ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Maximizing older people's access to primary health care centers in Lebanon: a co-design approach.Health promotion international · 2025Article
- Subjective executive functioning and skill learning during the COVID-19 pandemic associated with perceived loneliness, depressive symptoms, and well-being.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: A potential risk factor for post-pandemic cognitive decline in older adults without dementia.Dementia & neuropsychologia · 2025Review
- "I just can't go back": Challenging Places for Older Americans since the COVID-19 Pandemic Onset.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2024Article
- Milk Fat Globule Membranes for Mental Health across the Human Lifespan.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on wellbeing and subjective cognitive functioning of older adults in Belgium.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Mental health condition of vocational high school students during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.Asian journal of psychiatry · 2023Article
- The impact of loneliness and social isolation during COVID-19 on cognition in older adults: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
- Executive Functioning Constructs in Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Related Disorders.Current psychiatry reports · 2022Review
- Changes in Older Adults' Frequency of Going Outside between 2020 and 2021: Associations with Health Status and Environmental Factors.Clinical gerontologistArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Background: The acute impacts of COVID-19-related mental health concerns on cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults are unknown. We investigated whether between-person (BP) differences and within-person (WP) changes in loneliness, anxiety, and worry about COVID-19 were related to cognitive function and abilities in a longitudinal cohort of middle-aged and older United States (US) adults over a nine-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were from bimonthly questionnaires in the nationwide COVID-19 Coping Study from August/September 2020 through April/May 2021 (N = 2262 adults aged ≥55). Loneliness was assessed with the 3-item UCLA Loneliness Scale, anxiety with the 5-item Beck Anxiety Inventory, and COVID-19 worry on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Cognitive outcomes were assessed with the 6-item Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Cognitive Function and Abilities scales. Marginal structural models incorporating inverse probability of treatment and attrition weights as well as sampling weights estimated the BP and WP relationships between the mental health predictors and PROMIS® cognitive scores over time. Results: In any given month, experiencing a loneliness or anxiety symptom score higher than the sample mean (BP difference) or higher than one's personal mean across the nine-month period (WP change) was negatively associated with cognitive function and abilities in that month. The observed magnitudes of associations were stronger for BP differences than for WP changes and were the strongest for anxiety symptom scale scores. Conclusions: Elevated loneliness and anxiety symptoms, both relative to other adults and to one's usual levels, were acutely associated with worse perceived cognitive function and abilities over a nine-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The long-term impacts of mental health symptoms experienced during the pandemic for population cognitive health should be explored.
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