Emotional empathy may be preserved in people with Alzheimer’s disease

People with Alzheimer’s disease can retain their ability to empathize, despite falls in other social skills, a new study led by researchers from the University College London (UCL).

The researchers discovered that people with Alzheimer’s disease scored a little higher on a degree of empathy than peers of the same age with mild cognitive impairment, despite the drag of other measures of social cognition such as recognizing facial emotions and understanding the thoughts of others.

The authors of the study, published in Alzheimer and dementia And supported by Wellcare, say that this is the first time that a cognitive domain has been found to improve in dementia.

We found convincing evidence of preserved or possibly even increased emotional empathy in people with Alzheimer’s disease, compared to people in earlier stages of cognitive decline.

This finding can offer researchers and health workers an opportunity to use these empathic skills in psychological support for people with Alzheimer’s disease, to help them build and maintain social connections. “

Dr. Andrew Sommload, Main author, UCL Psychiatry

The authors of the article have assessed data from 28 previous studies that were carried out all over the world, with a total of 2,409 participants who had mild cognitive disorders or dementia. Mild cognitive disorders are considered a risk state for dementia and is characterized by cognitive decline that is worse than expected for someone’s age, but does not yet affect daily functioning.

The researchers consistently found proof of progressive deterioration of people with dementia to recognize facial emotions and to understand the thinking processes of others, because people with Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporary dementia had poorer scores than with mild cognitive impairment.

The first author of the study, Puyu Shi (UCL Psychiatry), noted: “The disorders in social cognition that people with dementia experienced often lead to difficulties in understanding the intentions and emotions of others, and responding to social interactions in social interactions that can take care of both patients and care providers and adapt in dementia.”

Intriguously, the researchers found weak evidence of higher emotional empathy in people with Alzheimer’s disease compared to people with mild cognitive disorders.

Of the analyzed study, the study with the greatest effect size for emotional empathy reported an increased emotional reactivity on negative emotions in people with Alzheimer’s disease, whose researchers say they can contribute to difficulties that regulate the emotions with which the emotions are confronted with the patients of Alzheimeritie regulated -Losing skills.

The researchers say that more longitudinal data is needed to keep track of how empathy and other social skills change over time with healthy older adults without cognitive impairment and people with dementia, and to better understand how social cognition measures can help with the diagnosis and monitoring of dementia. Puyu Shi’s doctorate in the UCL department Psychiatry, funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, will investigate these questions in more detail.

Dr. Sommerlad added: “There is still a need for better tests that can make early identification of these social cognitive disorders possible, which could help with the diagnosis and possibly also help predicting how cognitive decline will continue to progress.”