Predictors of progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer disease

Abstract Background Restricting the movement of the public to gathering places and limiting close physical contact are effective measures against COVID-19 infection. In Japan, states of emergency have been declared in specific prefectures to reduce public movement and control COVID-19 transmission. We investigated how COVID-19 infection related experiences including people with a history of infection, people with a history of close contact, and people whose acquaintances have been infected, affected self-restraint related to outing behaviors during the second state of emergency in Japan. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted among workers aged 20–65 years using data from an internet survey. The baseline survey was conducted on December 22–25, 2020, and a follow-up survey was on February 18–19, 2021. There were 19,941 participants who completed both surveys and were included in the final analysis. We identified eight outing behaviors: (1) eating out (4 people or fewer); (2) eating out (5 people or more); (3) gathering with friends and colleagues; (4) day trip; (5) overnight trip (excluding visiting home); (6) visiting home; (7) shopping for daily necessities; and (8) shopping for other than daily necessities. We set self-restraint regarding each outing behavior after the second state of emergency was declared in January 2021 as the dependent variable, and COVID-19 infection related experiences as independent variables. Odds ratios were estimated using multilevel logistic regression analyses. Results Significant differences by COVID-19 infection related experiences were identified: compared to people without COVID-19 related experiences, people with a history of COVID-19 were less likely self-restraint from most outing behaviors. People whose acquaintance had been diagnosed with COVID-19 were significantly more likely to refrain from most outing behaviors. There was no significant difference in any outing behaviors for people with a history of close contact only. Conclusions To maximize the effect of a state of emergency, health authorities should disseminate information for each person in the target population, taking into account potential differences related to the COVID-19 infection related experiences.