Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on mood disorders and sleep in patients with Alzheimer′s disease in the context of COVID-19

Objective: To investigate the effects of MBSR(mindfulness-based stress reduction)-based mental rehabilitation intervention on mood disorders and sleep status of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer′s disease (AD) in long-term hospital during closed management of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A total of 70 patients with mild to moderate AD who were admitted to hospital before January 2020 were enrolled. All patients received an 8-week psychological rehabilitation intervention based on MBSR from February 11, 2020 to April 30, 2020. Prior to the intervention, general patient data were collected, including Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA), The 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS-15) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) and other assessment scales were used for initial assessment of each enrolled patient, and re-assessment was performed at the end of the 8-week intervention. After the initial assessment, correlation analysis was conducted between general patient data and the results of the initial assessment in patients. Results: It revealed that anxiety, depression, sleep status of patients were negatively correlated with their education level (R0.4; P≤0.01); GDS, HAMA and PSQI scores of the patients were significantly improved after 8 weeks of intervention compared with the initial evaluation(P