A look at possible effects of mandated COVID‐19 social isolation on orientation scores for research participants reporting mild memory concerns

Abstract

Background Due to mandated quarantine and social distancing in 2020, Florida residents temporarily ceased social activities outside the home, and modified activities of daily life that required leaving the home. Subjects continued to present for clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease. The purpose of this data review is to determine the effect of social isolation on orientation to time, due to site‐level concerns that the mandated social isolation may have a negative impact on orientation scores for subjects reporting mild memory concerns. Method Data was collected for 68 subjects reporting mild memory concerns (not meeting diagnostic criteria for dementia). Orientation responses for 52 subjects evaluated prior to the social distancing mandate (January 1 – March 26, 2020), and 16 subjects evaluated post‐implementation of social distancing (April 1‐May22), were recorded for the following items: Year, Month, Date, Day of the Week. All subjects in the post‐implementation group reported that they were mostly staying home, and not participating in their typical social activities outside of the home. The means of the two groups were compared across all orientation domains. Result A t‐test analysis reveals that following the social distancing mandate, subject performance on measures of orientation did significantly decline, overall. The mean of the pre‐social distancing group for the 4 orientation items was 3.7. The mean of the post‐social distancing group for the 4 orientation items was 3.1. (t crit = 1.67 , t stat = 2.17 , p= 0.01). Responses significantly affected by post‐social distancing were specific to Day and Date. (Correct responses for Day: 87% pre‐quarantine, 63% post‐quarantine; correct responses for Date: 90% pre‐quarantine, 69% post quarantine). Accurate Year and Month responses appeared to be consistent across both groups. Conclusion Consistent with site‐level concerns that social isolation subsequent to Covid‐19 distancing guidelines could negatively impact orientation scores for subjects reporting mild memory concerns, the data collected and analyzed from January through May 2020 indicates a slight but significant decline in orientation scores post‐quarantine. Specifically, orientation to weekday and date appears to be most affected by the change in lifestyle and activities of daily living engaged in outside of the home.