Low pre-albumin, body mass index, and thiamine levels have been associated with poor nutritional status and cognitive/memory deficits in adult heart failure patients. However, the relationship of these nutritional/dietary intake biomarkers to cognition has not been assessed in adolescents post-Fontan procedure and healthy controls.

This is a cross-sectional study. Adolescents (14–21 years of age) post-Fontan completion were recruited from paediatric cardiology clinics and controls from the community. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment was administered (normal ≥ 26), and blood draw (thiamine [normal 70–110 nmol/L] and pre-albumin levels [adolescent normal 23–45 mg/dL]) and the Thiamine Food Frequency Questionnaire were completed by all participants.

Seventy subjects, 40 post-Fontan (mean age 16 ± 1.6, female 51%, Hispanic 44%, hypoplastic left heart syndrome 26%) and 30 controls (mean age 16.8 ± 1.9, female 52%, Hispanic 66%), were participated. Post-Fontan group had lower median total cognitive scores (23 versus 29, p < 0.001), pre-albumin levels (23 versus 27, p = 0.013), and body mass index (20 versus 24, p = 0.027) than controls. Post-Fontan group had higher thiamine levels than controls (127 versus 103, p = 0.033). Lower pre-albumin levels (< 23) and underweight body mass index were associated with abnormal total cognitive scores (p = 0.030). Low pre-albumin level (p = .038) was an independent predictor of worse cognition.

Lower pre-albumin was an independent predictor for worse cognition in adolescents post-Fontan. Lower pre-albumin levels may reflect chronic liver changes or protein-losing enteropathy seen in Fontan physiology. These findings highlight the possibility for nutrition-induced cognitive changes.

There is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected mental health, but most studies have been conducted in the general population.

To identify factors associated with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with pre-existing mental illness.

Participants (N = 2869, 78% women, ages 18–94 years) from a UK cohort (the National Centre for Mental Health) with a history of mental illness completed a cross-sectional online survey in June to August 2020. Mental health assessments were the GAD-7 (anxiety), PHQ-9 (depression) and WHO-5 (well-being) questionnaires, and a self-report question on whether their mental health had changed during the pandemic. Regressions examined associations between mental health outcomes and hypothesised risk factors. Secondary analyses examined associations between specific mental health diagnoses and mental health.

A total of 60% of participants reported that mental health had worsened during the pandemic. Younger age, difficulty accessing mental health services, low income, income affected by COVID-19, worry about COVID-19, reduced sleep and increased alcohol/drug use were associated with increased depression and anxiety symptoms and reduced well-being. Feeling socially supported by friends/family/services was associated with better mental health and well-being. Participants with a history of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or eating disorder were more likely to report that mental health had worsened during the pandemic than individuals without a history of these diagnoses.

We identified factors associated with worse mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with pre-existing mental illness, in addition to specific groups potentially at elevated risk of poor mental health during the pandemic.

Longitudinal studies of first episode of psychosis (FEP) patients are critical to understanding the dynamic clinical factors influencing functional outcomes; negative symptoms and verbal memory (VM) deficits are two such factors that remain a therapeutic challenge. This study uses white-gray matter contrast at the inner edge of the cortex, in addition to cortical thickness, to probe changes in microstructure and their relation with negative symptoms and possible intersections with verbal memory.

T1-weighted images and clinical data were collected longitudinally for patients (N = 88) over a two-year period. Cognitive data were also collected at baseline. Relationships between baseline VM (immediate/delayed recall) and rate of change in two negative symptom dimensions, amotivation and expressivity, were assessed at the behavioral level, as well as at the level of brain structure.

VM, particularly immediate recall, was significantly and positively associated with a steeper rate of expressivity symptom decline (r = 0.32, q = 0.012). Significant interaction effects between baseline delayed recall and change in expressivity were uncovered in somatomotor regions bilaterally for both white-gray matter contrast and cortical thickness. Furthermore, interaction effects between immediate recall and change in expressivity on cortical thickness rates were uncovered across higher-order regions of the language processing network.

This study shows common neural correlates of language-related brain areas underlying expressivity and VM in FEP, suggesting deficits in these domains may be more linked to speech production rather than general cognitive capacity. Together, white-gray matter contrast and cortical thickness may optimally inform clinical investigations aiming to capture peri-cortical microstructural changes.