Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua

Background We are conducting a biomarker‐based study to describe the demographic and biomarker profiles of Panamanians. The objective of this report is to present the main findings on CSF, genetic and serological biomarkers’ distribution and their association with cognition in a cohort of elderly people in Panama. Method Informed consent was applied to all participants, demographic data, medical history, and neuropsychological and functional status were collected, and non‐fasting blood samples were obtained. We performed a cross‐sectional analysis of aged individuals for blood and CSF biomarkers and Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) expression (N=45). The following measures were obtained: MMSE, Global Deterioration Scale, and Geriatric Depression Scale 30‐item version. The following biomarkers in CSF were analyzed: Ab1–42, T‐tau and P‐tau181. Result We performed group comparisons and analyzed in‐group correlations between blood‐based and CSF biomarkers. Group differences across three CFS profile categories (normal, plausible AD, and AD) were calculated using ANOVA. The Innotest Amyloid Tau Index (IATI) was used to assign 45 biochemical CSF profiles into: normal CSF profile (n=19), plausible AD profile (n=18) and AD profile (n=8). Groups did not differ with respect to age, sex, or education level. AD group expressed at least one copy of the allele 4 of ApoE significantly more than normal and plausible AD profile groups (p=0.017 and 0.035, respectively). Significant correlation between IL‐18 and Ab1–42 was observed in normal group, and no correlations were found between blood and CSF markers in plausible AD group. The greatest number of significant correlations was found in AD group: B2M, CRP, Eotaxin3, PPY, SAA, TARC correlated with P‐tau181; IL‐10, IL‐7 with Ab1–42; and FVII with T‐tau. Conclusion In this analysis we observed a strong correlation of systemic biomarkers with CSF profiles (IATI profiles), mainly in the Alzheimer's disease group. Blood‐based biomarkers might facilitate diagnosis and clinical design in the future, but further validation is required.

Background By 2025, an estimated three‐quarters of the global population aged 60 and older will live in Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC), leading to a rise in age‐related conditions. The main goal of the Panama Aging Research Initiative – Health Disparities (PARI‐HD) research program is to create a platform for multidisciplinary clinical studies that focus on mental health and its diseases such as age‐related cognitive decline. This platform would generate a large amount of clinical, neuropsychological, lifestyle, genetic and biomarker data following standardized research protocols. In this report we present the protocol of an ongoing clinical study within the PARI‐HD program. The main objective is to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of biomarkers in blood, cerebrospinal fluid and magnetic resonance imaging for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) in Panamanian older adults (≥ 65 years of age). We report a description of the overall design of the research study and the demographic characteristics of the research cohort enrolled to date. Method The study is descriptive and prospective, and for each participant we obtain informed consent, demographic data on medical history and functional status and neuropsychological evaluations. CSF, MRI and fasting blood samples are obtained. Participants are divided into the following diagnostic groups: MCI, AD, PD, and without cognitive impairment. Result To date, 72 persons have completed the baseline clinical evaluation: MCI (n=28), AD (n=4), Parkinson's disease (n=9), and without cognitive impairment (n=31). The participants have also completed the following study activities: MRI scans (n=38), lumbar punctures (n=23), blood samples (n=66), and cognitive tests (n=70). Conclusion The aim of this protocol is to enroll 120 participants across the four diagnostic groups, to highlight the critical role of precise brain imaging and CSF biomarkers in disease detection. Our study is the first of its kind in Panama and one of few in the LAC region, setting a milestone in exploring CSF protein analysis and MRI techniques associated with MCI, PD and AD in Hispanic/Latino individuals aged 65 and older.

Background Dementia affects nearly 50 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of disability in older adults. According to predictions by the World Health Organization, the global population with dementia will reach 82 million by 2030, and 152 million by 2050. Currently, pharmacological interventions to delay cognitive decline are proving to be insufficient. By contrast, non‐pharmacological approaches have gained attention in recent years because they can improve clinical symptoms, are low risk and could even alleviate the burden on caregivers. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of an intervention program on cognition, subjective well‐being, and physical health in older adults in Panama. Method This is a randomized controlled trial study. The sample includes 60 participants aged 60‐80 years, divided into three groups: 1) a control group, which will receive informative talks about health; 2) experimental group 1, which will participate in cognitive and physical interventions, including cognitive training using the CogniFit platform, group cognitive training and weekly walks monitored with a smartwatch; and 3) experimental group 2, that will perform weekly walks only. A pre‐assessment of the participants is currently being conducted, with 42 participants evaluated so far. The assessment includes a sociodemographic interview, clinical scales, a cognitive test battery, and a physical assessment. Subsequently, a three‐month intervention program will be implemented, followed by a reinforcement program to maintain cognitive and physical training habits introduced in the intervention program. Last, a post‐test will be used to evaluate cognitive function 6 months after the beginning of the intervention program. Results According to existing literature, it is expected the group receiving multidomain interventions will improve significantly more than groups receiving a single intervention and the control group. Conclusion This study is projected to benefit the physical, cognitive, and emotional health of the participants, as well as to provide them with tools for the prevention of cognitive decline. It will also generate a new line of research that will have an impact on the treatment of older adults with cognitive impairment in Panama.

Background The use of videoconference platforms for neuropsychological assessment was not as common among mental health practitioners before the COVID‐19 pandemic. However, due to lockdowns and quarantines worldwide, mental health professionals had to find a feasible alternative and shift to virtual evaluations. This increased the use of teleneuropsychology in both at a clinical and research level. Studies conducted during the pandemic provided evidence of the feasibility of virtual assessments, but data from low‐and middle‐income countries is scarce and conclusions from studies in other regions cannot be generalized. The objective of this study is to develop and apply a teleneuropsychological assessment battery on a group of elderly adults in Panama and Hispanics living in the United States. Method This is a multicenter study that will gather data from a Panamanian Cohort parallel to the current Florida‐based study Development and Validation of TeleNeuropsychology Normative Data for Older Adults (FLOAT). So far 80 participants over 50 years old have been assessed in Panama and Florida. Inclusion criteria includes passing a screening with TICS‐M for low risk of developing dementia and having basic knowledge and accessibility of electronic devices. Researchers contact potential participants through calls and WhatsApp chats to explain the study and obtain informed consent. Participants are then screened to see if they are eligible to be assessed through the video conference platform. Participants must complete the teleneuropsychological assessment battery from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), and different questionnaires to provide socio‐demographic and functional data. All information is gathered with the REDCap platform. Result One hundred participants will be assessed with a teleneuropsychology protocol in each cohort. Once all data is collected, it will be analyzed with multivariate statistics methods. We expect to describe the protocol’s feasibility assessing older adults in both locations. Conclusion To our knowledge this is the first study of its kind in Panama and one of the only ones in the region. The study seeks to generate data that could be shared and applied for future research or clinical practice regarding teleneuropsychological assessments with older adults with similar cohorts.

Currently, food access has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, various alternatives are required to improve the population’s diet. Among the many alternatives is the use of 3D printing technology to reproduce food that can reach the most vulnerable population. This remarkable study shows future generations the importance of seeking innovative food that guarantees a nutritious and accessible diet. The study focuses on the Panamanian population to determine which variables influence the decision to consume innovative foods. The innovative product to be tested is based on insects, arachnids, and arthropods, which may be difficult for the population to consume, but thanks to 3D printing technologies, it is possible to generate foods based on these raw materials that look like traditional foods. Likewise, processing these foods generates less water consumption, giving them an ecological attribute. The present study seeks to know the variables that determine the purchase intention of consumers in Panama regarding the food supply based on insects, arachnids, and arthropods that are transformed into traditional food formats using 3D printers. This information can help companies prepare food offers to consumers in Panama.

The population of Hispanic older adults is growing along with the burden of chronic diseases. This cross-sectional study aims to assess the factors associated with frailty among community-dwelling Hispanic women aged ≥60 years (n = 357) enrolled in the Panama Aging Research Initiative—Health Disparities study of cognitive-functional health of older persons in Panama. Cognitive function was assessed with a neuropsychological test battery. Depression was measured with the Geriatric Depression Scale. Frailty was defined using the Fried criteria and participants were classified as non-frail, pre-frail or frail. A subsample (n = 281) provided fasting blood samples for quantification of protein biomarkers. Associations were examined using hierarchical multiple linear regressions. 59.4% and 9.0% of participants (M = 69.2 years, SD = 6.3) were pre-frail and frail, respectively. Having more depression (β = .28, p < .001) was significantly associated with frailty, even after covariate adjustment. Cognitive function was not associated with frailty. Higher pTau181 levels were associated with increased frailty (β = .13, p = .039), whereas higher α2M levels were associated with decreased frailty (β = −.16, p = .004). These findings advance the search for health indicators and biomarkers of frailty and warrant further studies to decrease the burden of frailty among older Hispanic women.

It is well established that site effects and the interaction between the structure and the ground play a significant role in the structural damage observed after major earthquakes. The latter fact, along with advancements in computation geomechanics, has made more common the use of numerical dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI) analyses, for instance with the finite element method, to assess the seismic behaviour of structures in major engineering projects. However, the generation of the input motion at the base of the numerical model might not be a trivial task, particularly when the adopted motion is specified at the top of a nonlinear soil deposit. In this case, one-dimensional frequency domain analyses are usually employed for deconvolution, where nonlinear behaviour is accounted for through the equivalent linear approach. However, if a complex nonlinear elastoplastic constitutive description is adopted to characterise the behaviour of the soil, the original motion will not be recovered at the surface because of the very different approaches for representing the behaviour of the soil. In this context, the paper addresses the application of a time-domain deconvolution procedure which allows us to consider the same nonlinear behaviour of the soil that is intended to be used in the numerical DSSI analysis. The methodology was applied to the Treasure Island site, in San Francisco, during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, where significant site effects were identified. Results show that the evaluated procedure can satisfactorily generate an input motion for the numerical model such that the adopted surface spectrum is recovered when propagated through the nonlinear soil deposit.

Background Evidence suggests that a combination of biological and social factors influence risk of dementia differently for women and men. In healthy older women, several factors may contribute to changes in cognition. Objective Describe the characteristics associated with variation in cognition in a sample of cognitively healthy older Panamanian women. Methods The study includes cross-sectional analyses of cognitive domains at baseline (n = 357) and 17-month (SD = 2.0) follow-up (n = 200) for women aged 60 years and older enrolled in the Panama Aging Research Initiative-Health Disparities (PARI-HD) study. Instruments included clinical questionnaires, physiological measures, and a neuropsychological test battery assessing global cognition and seven cognitive domains. Multiple regression analyses examined the associations between demographic and clinical characteristics and cognition at baseline. Repeated measures analyses were used to investigate changes in cognition from baseline to follow-up. Results On average, participants were 68.6 years of age (SD = 5.9) with 16.1 years of education (SD = 4.7). Age, income, and education showed robust associations with baseline cognition. Subjective cognitive impairment was associated with lower performance in global cognition, verbal learning, and memory domains. Only performance in the attention domain decreased at follow-up, and subjective health state and depressive symptoms significantly predicted the change in attention. Discussion Our study findings contribute to the investigation of cognitive health in older Hispanic women and to the understanding of sociodemographic and health-related factors associated with cognitive decline and the progression to cognitive impairment and dementia.

In this study, a procedure to perform a time-domain deconvolution in nonlinear elastoplastic materials has been proposed. The aim is to develop accelerograms at the base of a finite element model (FEM) from surface records to perform soil-structure interaction analyses. This procedure is based on finding a relationship between the surface response and the surface target spectrum, modifying the input signal at the base through a spectral matching technique until obtaining a surface response compatible with the target spectrum. To this end, a FEM of a soil deposit, considering its nonlinear properties and ground motion records from the L’Aquila earthquake, was used to validate the methodology; a Eurocode 8 design spectrum was used as the target. It was found that the procedure produces input signals at the base that generate surface spectra similar to the target spectrum, with errors lower than 10% for all considered periods. Results obtained demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed methodology.

Background: A growing body of evidence points to potential risks associated with polypharmacy (using ≥5 medications) in older adults, but most evidence is derived from studies where racial and ethnic minorities remain underrepresented among research participants. Objective: Investigate the association between polypharmacy and cognitive function, subjective health state, frailty, and falls in Hispanic older adults. Methods: Panama Aging Research Initiative-Health Disparities (PARI-HD) is a community-based cohort study of older adults free of dementia at baseline. Cognitive function was measured with a neuropsychological test battery. Frailty assessment was based on the Fried criteria. Subjective health state and falls were self-reported. Linear and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine association. Results: Baseline evaluations of 468 individuals with a mean age of 69.9 years (SD = 6.8) were included. The median number of medications was 2 (IQR: 1-4); the rate of polypharmacy was 19.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 16.1-23.3). Polypharmacy was inversely associated with self-rated overall health (b =-5.89, p < 0.01). Polypharmacy users had 2.3 times higher odds of reporting two or more falls in the previous 12 months (odds ratio [OR] = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.06-5.04). Polypharmacy was independently associated with Fried's criteria for pre-frailty (OR = 2.90, 95% CI = 1.36-5.96) and frailty (OR = 5.14, 95% CI = 1.83-14.42). Polypharmacy was not associated with cognitive impairment. Conclusions: These findings illustrate the potential risks associated with polypharmacy among older adults in Panama and may inform interventions to improve health outcomes in this population.

Background The Panamanian Aging‐Focused Research Initiative (PARI) aims to study age‐associated neurodegenerative diseases in older people in Panama, such as determining genetic and serological biomarkers identified as risk factors for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Apoliprotein E (ApoE) is involved in lipoprotein metabolism and is the main carrier of cholesterol to the brain. The objective is to present the main findings on the allelic distribution of ApoE and its association with markers of inflammation and cognition in a cohort of elderly people in Panama Method PARI has enrolled more than 800 participants and has two recruitment waves. Informed consent was applied to all the participants, demographic data was collected, about their medical history and functional status, neuropsychological evaluations were carried out and blood samples were taken to determine the allelic frequency of the protein Apoliprotein E gene by means of PCR and various serological biomarkers. The clinical wave was made up of individuals ≥ 65 years of age who attended the CSS complex’s outpatient geriatrics, while the community wave consisted of individuals ≥ 60 years of age recruited in Panama City. Result The clinical wave presents greater age and cases of depression, and less education, body mass index and global cognition compared to the community wave. The presence of the ApoE2 isoform in both waves combined was 9.5%, while for ApoE 4 it was 27.4%. In the clinical wave, ApoE4 turned out to be a significant predictor with an Odds ratio of 5 (95% CI 2.11 – 12.52) for MCI. For both waves, global cognitive impairment is greater in people who have at least 1 copy of ApoE4, as well as worse ApoE 4‐associated cognitive function in female participants compared to male participants. Differences in the average levels of I‐309, IL‐18 and pancreatic polypeptide (PPY) between the groups with or without the presence of ApoE4 are significant when analyzing the cohort as a whole. Conclusion We conclude that the determination of the ApoE allele frequency, specifically the identification of ApoE4, can be considered viable as a genetic biomarker to be applied to the evaluations of cognitive impairment.

A rapidly aging world population is fueling a concomitant increase in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD). Scientific inquiry, however, has largely focused on White populations in Australia, the European Union, and North America. As such, there is an incomplete understanding of AD in other populations. In this perspective, we describe research efforts and challenges of cohort studies from three regions of the world: Central America, East Africa, and East Asia. These cohorts are engaging with the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC), a global partnership that brings together cohorts from around the world to advance understanding of AD. Each cohort is poised to leverage the widespread use of mobile devices to integrate digital phenotyping into current methodologies and mitigate the lack of representativeness in AD research of racial and ethnic minorities across the globe. In addition to methods that these three cohorts are already using, DAC has developed a digital phenotyping protocol that can collect ADRD‐related data remotely via smartphone and/or in clinic via a tablet to generate a common data elements digital dataset that can be harmonized with additional clinical and molecular data being collected at each cohort site and when combined across cohorts and made accessible can provide a global data resource that is more racially/ethnically represented of the world population.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by global increases in depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Previous studies have shown that resilience mitigates these symptoms, however there is limited research exploring the link between resilience and mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic in Central America. Objective To examine the role of resilience as it relates to the perceived effect of the pandemic on mental health symptoms. Methods A sample of 480 adults in Panama were recruited from March to May 2021 to complete an online survey. The online survey consisted of sociodemographic questions and scale measures assessing depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, resilience, and social support. Results Results indicated that resilience mediated the relationship between the perceived effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health symptoms; participants who felt more personally affected by the pandemic reported more depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms via decreased resilience. Further analyses revealed that resilience was moderated by sex and social support, showing that the indirect effect of resilience was greater for women and individuals who perceived low social support. Discussion These findings contribute to a growing body of research documenting the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and reveal potential mechanisms through which pandemic-related distress decreases resilience, thereby increasing symptoms of mental illness.

When dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI) analyses are performed, e.g. using the finite element (FE) method, the input signal is required at the base of the model. Nevertheless, acceleration records are usually available at the surface and, therefore, the desired motion must be deconvolved to the base. The latter is usually performed through the solution of one-dimensional propagation of shear waves in an elastic medium, in the frequency domain. Herein, nonlinear behavior is generally incorporated through the equivalent-linear method, by iteratively reducing the stiffness and increasing the critical damping ratio as a function of the maximum strains attained in each iteration. However, if complex material models are adopted to characterize the soil, the input motion derived with the equivalent linear method will not be compatible due to the simplified approach used to represent the nonlinear behavior. In this article, the use of a procedure to perform a time-domain deconvolution in non-linear elastoplastic materials is demonstrated. The goal is to generate input accelerograms at the base of a FE model to perform DSSI analyses. The procedure is based on the iterative modification of the motion at the base according to the relative differences between the propagated and target surface spectra. To illustrate the use of the methodology, it was applied to a FE model of the Treasure Island site (San Francisco, US), to derive the required motion at the base from a record of the Loma Prieta earthquake.•This article provides a useful guideline to optimize the use of the deconvolution procedure to derive input motions for dynamic FE analyses considering nonlinear elastoplastic materials.

Background The Panama Aging Research Initiative (PARI) is a longitudinal study of more than 800 adults aged 60 years and older. The objective of this analysis consists of identifying the effects of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene as a risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with elevated risk for ε4‐carriers and reduced risk for ε2‐carriers. Method Our ongoing community‐based cohort (n = 400) has undergone clinical interviews, neuropsychological testing, and assessments of frailty at two time points (14‐29 months apart). Fasting blood draws were obtained for measurements of genetic and blood‐based biological markers. DNA was extracted from whole blood and (ApoE) genotyping (n = 330) was conducted according to standardized PCR procedures. We will examine whether ε2 and ε4 are associated with differential rates of normal cognitive aging, and whether associations of ε4 with cognitive decline are modified by sex, education or other health conditions common among older adults in Panama, including chronic illnesses, polypharmacy and frailty. Result Our study evaluate whether ApoE ε2, ε3 and ε4 allele frequency is a significant factor associated with cognition and daily function in elderly individuals. Specifically, we focus on evaluating the frequency of ApoE ε4 expression as a risk for cognitive impairment. Together these results contribute to our understanding of the risk factors of cognitive outcomes among Hispanic populations outside the US. Conclusion Little is known about the factors associated to cognitive health at old age in Central American populations. Genetic biomarkers could be used as a tool for diagnostic testing. It is expected that ApoE‐ε4 polymorphism will correlate with cognitive deficit among the elderly population and those at risk for cognitive impairment.

During strong earthquakes, structural damage usually occurs, resulting in a degradation of the overall stiffness of the affected structures. This degradation produces a modification in the dynamic properties of the structures, for instance, in the fundamental period of vibration (T1). Hence, the variation of T1 could be used as an indicator of seismic structural damage. In this article, a seismic damage assessment in four generic typologies of steel buildings was carried focused on verifying the variation of T1. To do so, several seismic damage states were calculated using the maximum inter-story drift ratio, MIDR, and following the Risk-UE guidelines. Then, a series of probabilistic nonlinear static analyses was implemented using Monte Carlo simulations. The probabilistic approach allows one to vary the main mechanical properties of the buildings, thus analyzing in this research 4000 buildings (1000 building samples for each of the four generic typologies). The variation of T1 was estimated using the capacity spectrum, and it was related to the MIDR for each damage state. As a main result of this study, the expected variation of T1 for several damage states is provided. Finally, a proposal for a seismic damage preventive “semaphore” and fragility curves are presented. These results may be useful as parameters or criteria in the evaluation of on-site structural monitoring for steel buildings.

Malaria, which infected more than 240 million people and killed around six hundred thousand only in 2021, has reclaimed territory after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Together with parasite resistance and a not-yet-optimal vaccine, the need for new approaches has become critical. While earlier, limited, studies have suggested that malaria parasites are affected by electromagnetic energy, the outcomes of this affectation vary and there has not been a study that looks into the mechanism of action behind these responses. In this study, through development and implementation of custom applicators for in vitro experimentation, conditions were generated in which microwave energy (MW) killed more than 90% of the parasites, not by a thermal effect but via a MW energy-induced programmed cell death that does not seem to affect mammalian cell lines. Transmission electron microscopy points to the involvement of the haemozoin-containing food vacuole, which becomes destroyed; while several other experimental approaches demonstrate the involvement of calcium signaling pathways in the resulting effects of exposure to MW. Furthermore, parasites were protected from the effects of MW by calcium channel blockers calmodulin and phosphoinositol. The findings presented here offer a molecular insight into the elusive interactions of oscillating electromagnetic fields with P. falciparum, prove that they are not related to temperature, and present an alternative technology to combat this devastating disease.

The Panama Aging Research Initiative (PARI) is a two‐cohort study of more than 800 adults aged 60 years and older. PARI has provided the first reports of modifiable and non‐modifiable risk factors of cognitive impairment and dementia, as well as various health conditions common among older adults in Panama, including chronic illnesses, polypharmacy and frailty. Our general objective consists of identifying biomarkers of memory impairment for improving early diagnosis of dementia, and specifically, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Panama follows the global trend of smartphone use and rapid access to information. Therefore, the implementation of digital phenotyping as clinical tool could be a promising strategy to developing culturally appropriate cost‐ and time‐efficient protocols for early detection of cognitive impairment. Our ongoing community‐based cohort has undergone clinical interviews, neuropsychological testing, and assessments of frailty at two time points (14‐29 months apart). Fasting blood draws were obtained for measurements of genetic and blood‐based biological markers. Ongoing studies are evaluating genetic variation both in disease genes and in regulatory factors that modulate onset and progression of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases. In collaboration and with the support of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC) Global Cohort Development program, we are also introducing the collection of longitudinal AD‐related digital phenotypes. Blood‐based biomarkers have been shown to be highly accurate in detecting AD and MCI, with promising results for early diagnosis of AD‐related cognitive impairment. We will discuss results of studies examining the combination of blood‐based biomarkers with standard neuropsychological tests to generate molecular profiles that could lead to early and timely MCI and AD diagnosis. We will further present how digital phenotyping will open up new opportunities that will help overcome challenges that arise when trying to apply conventional approaches in low‐resourced settings. Blood‐based and digital biomarkers could be used as a first screening tool, followed by additional diagnostic testing for those at risk for cognitive impairment. The DAC initiative to leverage existing infrastructures across cohort studies around the world is of particular relevance to refining our assessment processes and dementia risk profiling, and ultimately, developing novel interventions in low‐resource settings.

Background The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions on mental health is being studied. Objective To analyze the psychosocial response to the COVID-19 pandemic in adults residing in Panama. Methods A community sample of 480 adult residents of Panama completed a survey that included sociodemographic questions, COVID-19 related questions (e.g., health concerns regarding the virus, knowledge and behaviors in biosafety) and scales of stress, anxiety, depression, prosocial behavior, resilience, perceived social support, and insomnia. Results Most of the participants (>60%) reported being negatively affected by the pandemic. Women experienced greater depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms than men, and age was negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Self-perceived health status and self-perceived social support were negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Self-perceived social isolation was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Psychiatric illness and insomnia were positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, whereas psychological resilience was negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Discussion These results corroborate other studies regarding COVID-19 and mental health. This study highlights the need for specific prevention and intervention mechanisms related to the COVID-19 pandemic in different population groups. This is the first report of the psychological impact of COVID-19 in the general Panamanian population and one of the only studies in the Latin American region and, therefore, contributes to research in the Latino population and lower-middle income countries.