Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latino families with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias: Perceptions of family caregivers and primary care providers

  1. Jaime Perales-Puchalt
  2. Jill Peltzer
  3. Monica Fracachan-Cabrera
  4. Adriana Perez
  5. Mariana Ramirez-Mantilla
  6. K Allen Greiner
  7. Jeffrey M Burns

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Abstract

Latinos experience disproportionately poor outcomes in dementia and COVID-19, which may synergistically impact their health. We explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among Latino families with dementia via a qualitative descriptive study of 21 informal caregivers of Latinos with dementia and 24 primary care providers. Two themes arose: The impact of a global pandemic (e.g., accelerated cognitive and physical decline, or caregivers choosing between risking finances and the family’s infection given the work situation) and Developing resilience to the effects of the pandemic (e.g., caregivers seeking vaccination sites, moving in with the care recipient and adopting telehealth) .

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  1. Version published to 10.1101/2022.05.25.22275517v2 on medRxiv
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.05.25.22275517: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: The University of Kansas Medical Center Institutional Review Board approved this project (STUDY00145615).
    Consent: Before the interview, all participants completed an informed written consent online either via their computers, tablets, or phones.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    We recruited two groups of participants: 1) family caregivers of people living with ADRD and 2) PCPs.
    ADRD
    suggested: (Resources for Enhancing Alzheimers Caregiver Health, RRID:SCR_003638)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has some limitations. Remote recruitment and interviews increased the representation of participants in rural areas and other states. However, videocalls and phone calls led to some communication issues, which in some cases reduced the amount of information we could collect and affected the quality of the audio. The inability to conduct in-person recruitment and interviews may have excluded the most underserved individuals, who could have been contacted via health fairs before the pandemic started. We did not interview individuals with ADRD, which did not allow a full triangulation between them, their caregivers, and PCPs. While Latino caregivers tend to be women,36 these were over-represented in our study, likely also due to women’s higher likelihood to participate in health-related research.37,38 The sample size was relatively small and not probabilistic, which reduces the generalizability of the findings. As with most studies, individuals who participated in the study were motivated to participate. We do not know how much their discourse compares to those who decided not to participate. This study has implications for public health. Given the efficacy of existing COVID-19 vaccines,39 ensuring access to ongoing boosters among Latinos with ADRD and their families will be needed. To do so, it will continue to be necessary to hold events at flexible times and days, convenient venues, and improve the communication with them by using a wide range of communication moda...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.05.25.22275517v1 on medRxiv