Marcos Hortes N. Chagas

• Psicogeriatra, Mestre e Doutor em Neurociências
• Professor at University of São Paulo

Administration mode of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) may influence responses. We assessed if Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale – Depression subscale (HADS-D) item responses and scores were associated with administration mode. We compared (1) self...

Objectives To investigate the effects of empathy training on psychological concerns and empathy in caregivers of older people. Methods A randomized, double-blind, crossover, clinical trial with follow-up was conducted online. Thirty paid and unpaid caregivers of older people from different regions of Brazil participated in an empathy training prog...

With the technological advancement and democratization of electronic devices, computerized cognitive tests have been increasingly used in the clinical context to evaluate cognitive performance in individuals. Objective This study aimed to propose a brief digital cognitive test based on the paradigm of stimulus equivalence and assess its convergent...

Introduction: The effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on cognition has been investigated in recent years to determine the therapeutic potential of this cannabinoid for a broad gamut of medical conditions, including neuropsychiatric disorders. The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review of studies that analyzed the effects of the acute...

Introduction Empathy training directed at empathic abilities and/or aspects of providing care can be effective at increasing levels of this ability. Moreover, training in different care contexts can minimize the negative impacts of providing care. Objectives To identify empathy training models and the effects on psychological concerns in paid and...

Unlabelled: The frequency of psychotic symptoms in older adults is high, mainly in neurocognitive cognitions of the most varied etiologies. Objectives: This study aimed to review the studies that analyze the frequency of the types of delusions, hallucinations, and misidentifications in dementia conditions of different etiologies. Methods: A sy...

The prevalence of neurocognitive disorders has been rising and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common cause. Studies on conditional discrimination have contributed to understand the variables associated with the cognitive function. However, the relationship of such studies with cognitive impairment in older adults remains under-explored. This...

Background The population is aging rapidly, which leads to an increased prevalence of frailty syndrome. A large number of investigations on the subject have been conducted in Brazil, but no systematic review of prevalence studies involving the Brazilian population has been carried out considering the characteristics of the sample and the evaluation...

Unlabelled: Recognizing the other's emotions is an important skill for the social context that can be modulated by variables such as gender, age, and race. A number of studies seek to elaborate specific face databases to assess the recognition of basic emotions in different contexts. Objectives: This systematic review sought to gather these stud...

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar e comparar o desempenho cognitivo de idosos com e sem Transtorno de Ansiedade Generalizada (TAG). Tratou-se de um estudo descritivo, quantitativo e de corte transversal em que foram entrevistados 233 idosos moradores da área de uma Unidade de Saúde da Família do município de São Carlos, São Paulo, divididos em...

Objectives: To identify empathy training models and the effects on psychological concerns in paid and unpaid caregivers of older people. Methods: A systematic review was conducted. Searches for relevant articles were performed in the Embase, LILACS, PsycInfo, Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science databases using the following search strategy: "Empat...

The aim of the present systematic review was to investigate cultural factors associated with burden in unpaid caregivers of older adults. Searches were conducted in the Pubmed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, Scopus, Embase, LILACs and SciELO databases for relevant articles published in English, Portuguese and Spanish using the search terms ‘Caregiver AN...

Background Cannabinoids have been suggested to alleviate frequently experienced symptoms of reduced mental well-being such as anxiety and depression. Mental well-being is an important subdomain of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Reducing symptoms and maintaining HRQoL are particularly important in malignant primary brain tumor patients, as...

Objectives Identify associations between psychological concerns and empathy (affective and cognitive domains) in paid and unpaid caregivers of older people. Methods A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Searches were performed in the Pubmed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Scopus and Embase databases using the search terms “Empathy,” “Car...

Background: Falls among older people have a negative impact on health and therefore constitute a public health problem. Cognitive decline can also accompany the aging process, and both conditions lead to significant increases in morbidity and mortality in this population. Objective: To analyze the cognitive performance of older people, classifie...

Quantas vezes você já ficou ansioso antes de um compromisso importante, começar a trabalhar em um novo emprego ou quando conheceu alguém novo? Se sentir ansioso é normal e, inclusive, é considerado importante por representar um estado de alerta. O problema é quando a sensação é constante e pode se transformar em um transtorno mental. De acordo com...

The objective of this study was to identify the relationship of burden with depressive symptoms, mental disorders and older adults' functional dependence in paid and unpaid caregivers. This is a quantitative and cross-sectional study, carried out in the inland of the state of São Paulo with 111 caregivers, 60 of whom were unpaid and 51 were paid. T...

Background: The trajectory of incident disability that occurs simultaneously with changes in frailty status, as well as how much each frailty component contributes to this process in the different sexes, are unknown. The objective of this study is to analyse the trajectory of the incidence of disability on basic and instrumental activities of dail...

BACKGROUND Gliomas are primary brain tumors with a dismal prognosis. Reducing symptoms and maintaining quality of life (QoL) are main treatment aims in glioma patients. Mental well-being is an important subdomain of QoL. Cannabinoids have been suggested to alleviate frequently experienced symptoms of reduced mental well-being such as anxiety or dep...

Empathy is an important factor to guarantee the quality of care provided in the long-term care institutions (LTCIs) for older adults, and depression is a factor that affects the health of the professional and, consequently, the care. Thus, it is important that studies are conducted on the relationship of these variables in this context. Objective:...

Theory of mind is the ability to understand, and infer thoughts or mental states to others. This is a central domain of social cognition that can be impaired after brain injury, resulting in changes in social skills and implications for rehabilitation. The aim of this investigation was to analyze the reliability of the Theory of Mind Task Battery (...

Objectives O: To assess differences in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion among caregivers of older people with different levels of empathy. Methods : A cross-sectional study was conducted with 158 caregivers of older adults who provided care in family residences or nursing homes. The caregivers were divided into three groups based o...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Mobility limitation is commonly the first sign of impaired physical function and predisposes older adults to disability. Moreover, recent epidemiological studies have classified neuromuscular strength as the best explanator of mobility limitation. However, existing cutoffs have not been adequately analyzed regarding accuracy....

Objective: To analyse factors associated with affective and cognitive empathy in informal and formal caregivers of older people. Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted with 111 formal and informal caregivers divided into three groups (lower, intermediate and higher empathy) based on the Multidimensional Interpersonal Reactivity Index score...

It is important to assess the prevalence of risk factors for dementia to slow down the progression and evolution of the disease, and to support interventions and prevention programs. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of these factors in individuals registered in Primary Health Care in Brazil and their relationship with sex and age gr...

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) associated with physical frailty gave rise to the new concept of cognitive frailty. Previous studies have suggested that MCI may represent a condition that precedes Alzheimer's disease (AD), in view of its higher conversion rate to dementia, when compared with the conversion rate of cognitively healthy older adults....

Objective: To compare the cognitive performance of community-dwelling older adults with a low level of schooling with and without major depression. Methods: A descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted with 22 community-dwelling older adults with depression and 187 without depression. The following assessment tools were employed:...

Objective: to identify the association between the characteristics of the support network and cognitive performance of older caregivers and compare characteristics between caregivers and non-caregivers. Methods: we evaluated 85 older caregivers and 84 older non-caregivers registered with primary care units regarding sociodemographic characteristic...

Background/Objective : Mobility limitation is commonly the first sign of impaired physical function and predisposes older adults to disability. Moreover, recent epidemiological studies have classified neuromuscular strength as the best explanator of mobility limitation. However, existing cutoffs have not been adequately analyzed regarding accuracy....

Objective Facial emotion recognition (FER) is a component of social cognition and important to interpersonal relations. Therefore, tasks have been developed to assess this skill in different population. Regarding older people, even healthy individuals have a poorer performance compared to rate of correct answers commonly used to assess such tasks....

Background: Restless legs syndrome or Willis-Ekbom disease is a disorder characterized by unpleasant sensations associated with the need to mobilize the lower limbs. In Parkinson disease patients, restless legs syndrome is associated with worse quality of life and excessive sleepiness. Regarding other factors, results of different studies are contr...

Introduction: Social cognition is an increasingly explored field of research in the study of post-acquired brain injury psychiatric disorders, encompasses a number of domains including theory of mind (ToM). The ToM refers to the ability to understand, infer emotions, and predict the behavior of others. ToM deficits can impair information processing...

Objective: The aim of the present study was to analyze the body sway response in specific phobia (SP) patients and healthy controls while viewing neutral, phobic, and disgusting images. Methods: The participants’ heart rate (HR) and skin conductance were also recorded during the procedure. Nineteen patients with arachnophobia and 19 healthy volunt...

Introduction: A diagnosis of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) currently requires confirmation with polysomnography (PSG). However, PSG may not be sufficiently available. In these situations, a clinical diagnostic measure might be useful. Objective: To validate the Brazilian Portuguese version of RBD screening questionnaire (RBDSQ)...

Background: Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others. Individuals with a brain lesion following a stroke exhibit a compromised ability to perform ToM tasks. Objective: To analyze studies that evaluated ToM in stroke survivors considering the lesion localization and performance on ToM tests. Methods: The...

Introduction The Internet Gaming Disorder Scale – Short Form (IGDS9-SF) assesses the severity, harmful effects and/or consequences of excessive online and offline gaming. Its conciseness and theoretical foundations on current diagnostic criteria of gaming disorders make it a useful resource for clinical and screening settings. Objective To describ...

RationaleIndividuals with music performance anxiety (MPA) present physical, behavioral, and cognitive manifestations of anxiety, in addition to information processing deficits, especially in facial emotion recognition (FER).Objectives To assess the effects of a single dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) on FER in a sample of musicians with high and...

Objective This study aimed to investigate factors associated with empathy and identify instruments used to measure this ability in professionals and students in the health field. Method A systematic review was performed. Searches were conducted on the PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases using the keywords “empathy” and “health p...

Objective: Depression symptom questionnaires are not for diagnostic classification. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores ≥ 10 are nonetheless often used to estimate depression prevalence. We compared PHQ-9 ≥ 10 prevalence to Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID) major depression prevalence and assessed whether an alternative PHQ-9...

Frailty and cognitive impairment are among the 2 most common geriatric syndromes. Their presence poses major risks to the elderly including greater disability, reduced quality of life, and higher morbi-mortality. Recent evidence suggest that frailty can be a risk factor for incident dementia. The opposite is also true since subjects with Alzheimer'...

Objective To perform a systematic review of articles evaluating implicit attitudes of health professionals and undergraduate students in the health field toward the elderly. Methods The PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and LILACS databases were searched for relevant articles published in English, Portuguese and Spanish using the following...

Background Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the main components of Cannabis sativa and has anxiolytic properties, but no study has been conducted to evaluate the effects of CBD on anxiety signs and symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of acute CBD administration at a dose of 300 mg on anxiety measu...

Serious games are a promising tool in different scenarios, such as education and health; however, there has been little research reported on their specialized use for older adults. We created a digital cognitive test – with the characteristics of a serious game – using Unified Design aiming to reproduce digitally the results of clinical cognitive e...

Background Cognitive impairment and frailty are important problems affecting the elderly population. Frail elderly present worse overall cognitive performance. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate general and domain-specific cognitive performance among non-frail, pre-frail, and frail elderly persons. Methods This is a cross-sectional...

Background: Screening for major depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) can be done using a cutoff or the PHQ-9 diagnostic algorithm. Many primary studies publish results for only one approach, and previous meta-analyses of the algorithm approach included only a subset of primary studies that collected data and could have publish...

Background Methods for faller classification and gait patterns using portable and reliable equipment are still a challenge when considered an active and healthy aging population, in particular for large-scale applications. In this study, we investigated the patterns that could identify elderly faller by means of the acceleration gait data. Method G...

Objective: To determine the factors associated with OSA in PD patients com DP. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 88 consecutive patients with PD from the outpatient clinic. Participants underwent clinical interviews with neurologists and a psychiatrist, assessment using standardized scales (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Parkinson's D...

Equivalency of the diagnostic accuracy of the PHQ-8 and PHQ-9: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis – ERRATUM - Yin Wu, Brooke Levis, Kira E. Riehm, Nazanin Saadat, Alexander W. Levis, Marleine Azar, Danielle B. Rice, Jill Boruff, Pim Cuijpers, Simon Gilbody, John P.A. Ioannidis, Lorie A. Kloda, Dean McMillan, Scott B....

Background: Screening for major depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) can be done using a cutoff or the PHQ-9 diagnostic algorithm. Many primary studies publish results for only one approach, and previous meta-analyses of the algorithm approach included only a subset of primary studies that collected data and could have publis...

Background Item 9 of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) queries about thoughts of death and self-harm, but not suicidality. Although it is sometimes used to assess suicide risk, most positive responses are not associated with suicidality. The PHQ-8, which omits Item 9, is thus increasingly used in research. We assessed equivalency of total...

Background: Insomnia complaints are frequent in Parkinson disease (PD), affecting up to 55% of patients. Factors related to insomnia in PD are multifactorial and may be associated with the degenerative process of the disease, comorbidities related to aging, and medication use. The aim of this study is to determine the factors associated with the p...

Background Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a disorder in which the patient presents a cognitive decline, but without negative impact on the activities of daily living. Objective To carry out a systematic review of published studies that analyzed the prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in older adults living in the community, and the c...

Objective: To describe the process of cross-cultural adaptation of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) to the Brazilian context. Methods: Cross-cultural adaptation involved the steps of independent translation of the instrument, synthesis version, and back-translation. Analysis of content validity was conducted by a multidisciplinary exp...

Objetivo: Revisar estudos relacionados ao impacto da ansiedade na qualidade de vida em pacientes com doença de Parkinson. Métodos: Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática realizada nos bancos de dados PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science e PsycINFO, com os descritores: “anxiety”, “Parkinson's disease” e “quality of life”. Foram selecionados 20 artigos publi...

Introduction: The recognition of facial expressions of emotion is essential to living in society. However, individuals with major depression tend to interpret information considered imprecise in a negative light, which can exert a direct effect on their capacity to decode social stimuli. Objective: To compare basic facial expression recognition...

Aim Sleep disorders can be associated with an increased risk for cognitive decline in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The aim of this study was to examine the association between cognitive status and presence of sleep symptoms and sleep disorders in PD patients. Methods We evaluated excessive sleepiness, other sleep symptoms and performed...

Introduction: Excessive sleepiness (ES) can affect up to 60% of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, and it has a multifactorial etiology. It is related to the neurodegenerative processes affecting brain regions responsible for the sleep-wake cycle, the effects of drugs acting on the central nervous system, and the excessive sleep fragmentation of t...

The objectives of this study were to describe the characteristics of RBD in a group of PD patients and verify the accuracy of the clinical interview in this group, determine the causes of failure of the interview, as well as to verify the clinical and polysomnographic differences between the groups of PD patients with and without RBD. So, a cross-s...

Background: Cohabitation with the elderly may bring benefits to social relationships and exert an influence on the recognition of facial expressions of emotion. Objective: Compare emotion recognition skills between a cohabitation group (CHG) of older adults who live with a dependent elderly individual and a non-cohabitation group (NCHG) of older a...

Background: Different diagnostic interviews are used as reference standards for major depression classification in research. Semi-structured interviews involve clinical judgement, whereas fully structured interviews are completely scripted. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), a brief fully structured interview, is also someti...

Aims: To evaluate the association between interview method and odds of major depression classification, controlling for depressive symptom scores and participant characteristics.

Introduction Music performance anxiety (MPA) can be defined as a lasting and intense apprehension connected with musical performance in public. Studies suggest that MPA can be regarded as a subtype of social anxiety. Since individuals with social anxiety have deficits in the recognition of facial emotion, we hypothesized that musicians with high le...

The plant Cannabis sativa, known as marijuana, is composed of more than 60 cannabinoids, which may have different effects on the sleep-wake cycle. The two main components of the plant are Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is responsible for psychoactive effects, and cannabidiol (CBD), the main component of the plant that does not have psychologi...

Presbycusis is a disorder present among the elderly. However, it is under-diagnosed, making it important to develop and enhance simple screening tools. Objective: The subjective faces scale has been proposed as a method to assess auditory self-perception among the elderly, and its correlation with audiological tests. Methods: We looked at elder...

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate factors associated with happiness in a sample of Brazilian older adults. Methods: A study was conducted with 263 elderly people in the area of coverage of a family health unit located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The Subjective Happiness Scale was used to measure happiness, the final...

Objectives: To determine the frequency of major sleep disorders in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), diagnosed according to the third international classification of sleep disorders, and assess the relationship of those disorders with the quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed involving 88 consecutive patients with...

Objective: Assess the effect of a Health Education (HE) program on cognition, mood and functional capacity of participants in a University of The Third Age (U3A). Method: Controlled clinical trial. The HE Program consisted of 10 sessions with group dynamics, including orientations on disease prevention and cognitive stimulation exercises, lasting...

Background Among non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), anxiety occurs in up to 67% of patients. Clinically, PD patients report worsening of tremors in anxiogenic situations. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between motor symptoms and anxiety in PD patients and compare their performances with those of health...

Este artigo apresenta reflexões sobre o papel do Bacharel em Gerontologia em Cuidados Paliativos (CP), com base em uma disciplina sobre o tema. Tem o objetivo de apresentar um panorama sobre os CP e a relação com a formação do Bacharel em Gerontologia, além de descrever como foi o desenvolvimento de disciplina sobre o tema, e refletir sobre possibi...

Diverse heuristic sets were proposed in order to evolve Heuristic Evaluation for new contexts, as contexts related to the elderly and mobile devices. However, heuristics for evaluation of mobile usability regarding elderly users still need aditional validations. For this reason, our study aimed to enhance the validation of a heuristic set proposed...

Background DSM-5 introduced some modifications on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) criteria. The instruments developed for the assessment of aspects related to PTSD needed a reformulation, as was the case of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL). Objectives To present the process of transcultural adaptation of the three forms of th...

Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this study was to compare PD patients with current Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), lifetime MDD, and no MDD using three neuroimaging techniques. A total of 43 PD patients were selected and divided into three groups: (i) current MDD (n = 15), (ii) previous MD...

Background Secondary interventions are implemented within a short interval following the occurrence of traumatic events with the purpose of preventing the onset of PTSD. Objective Analyze the results of studies that assessed post-trauma interventions in adults aimed at preventing the onset of PTSD or symptoms related to PTSD. Methods We performed...

INTRODUÇÃO A demência (transtorno neurocognitivo maior) é uma síndrome clínica, que cursa com deterioração dos domínios cognitivos, alterações de comportamento e prejuízo funcional.¹ Com o envelhecimento da população, o número de casos de demência tem aumentado progressivamente, principalmente nos países de média e baixa renda, elevando os gastos...

Background: Studies found inconsistent frequencies of social anxiety disorder (SAD) in Parkinson's disease (PD) (9.7%-50%). Previous reports did not test the impact of applying DSM-IV restrictive criteria that recommends the exclusion of secondary cases when diagnosing SAD in PD. Objective: Our aim is to estimate the frequency of social anxiety ac...

Deficits in recognition of facial expressions of emotion (RFEE) play a central role in the manifestation of anxiety disorders (AD). We systematically reviewed the literature to determine effects of drugs used in AD treatment on RFEE, based on outcomes of accuracy rate, reaction time, and intensity. Electronic databases, including Pubmed, PsycINFO,...

Objetivo Avaliar a empatia e a capacidade de reconhecimento de emoções básicas e complexas e suas correlações em estudantes de Medicina. Métodos O desenho do estudo foi transversal. Foram avaliados 86 alunos do 3º e 4º ano do curso de Medicina de uma faculdade de Medicina do interior do estado de São Paulo com os seguintes instrumentos: (i) escala...

Objetivo Realizar uma revisão atualizada dos estudos que avaliaram o delirium como fator de risco para o desenvolvimento de demência em idosos. Métodos A revisão foi realizada utilizando-se a base de dados do PubMed, com o seguinte cruzamento de descritores: risk factors and (delirium or acute confusional state) and dementia. Apenas estudos do tip...

Objetivo Realizar uma revisão atualizada para avaliar a prevalência de síndrome das pernas inquietas e/ou movimentos periódicos dos membros em pacientes com demência, além de discutir dados sobre possíveis fatores de risco desses transtornos. Métodos A revisão foi realizada utilizando a base de dados do PubMed, com o seguinte cruzamento de descrit...

Objective The aim of the present study is to examine the accuracy of the Brazilian versions of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) to screen for mild cognitive impairment (PDMCI) and dementia (PDD) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Method Both scales were administered to a f...

Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders, and its current treatment relies on antipsychotic medications with only partial effectiveness. Clozapine is an atypical antipsychotic with a specific profile of action indicated for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Neuroimaging studies assessing the effects of clozapine could help she...

Objective and background: Excessive fragmentary myoclonus (EFM) is characterized by subtle arrhythmic and excessive jerks that are usually asymmetric and asynchronous. EFM occurs in different areas of the body, mainly the face and distal parts of the arms and legs, and is detected by surface electromyography during sleep. The present study aimed t...

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) has a progressive course and is characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Although no neuroprotective treatments for PD have been found to date, the endocannabinoid system has emerged as a promising target. Methods: From a sample of 119 patients consecutively evaluated in a specialized move...

The neuropeptide oxytocin improves the performance in facial emotion recognition tests in healthy volunteers and in individuals with schizophrenia. Different paradigms are used in emotion recognition tasks, engaging different neurobiological bases. To date, the effects of oxytocin in facial emotion matching tasks have not been studied. The objectiv...

Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by irrational fear and avoidance of specific things or situations, interfering significantly with the patients' daily life. Treatment for the disorder consists of both pharmacological and psychological approaches, mainly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Neuroimaging techniques have been used i...

Objective: To test the hypothesis that severity of cognitive impairment modifies the association between depression and Parkinson's disease (PD). Method: One-phase population-based door-to-door surveys. This is a secondary analysis of 1,451 people aged 65 years and older with cognitive impairment living in defined catchment areas. Depression was...