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EDITORIAL article

Front. Psychiatry, 24 April 2023
Sec. Aging Psychiatry
This article is part of the Research Topic Early Detection and Management of Neurocognitive Disorders View all 7 articles

Editorial: Early detection and management of neurocognitive disorders

  • 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States
  • 2USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States

This Special Topic of Aging Psychiatry section of Frontiers in Psychiatry presents work illustrating the importance and various methods of early identification of cognitive impairment. The prompt and timely detection of cognitive impairment is not only allows for precise diagnosis and adequate treatment but also ensure shared decision-making concerning healthcare and other life plans. A wide array of methods to identify and characterize early cognitive changes are showcased through this section.

The article by Jin et al. overview current evidence for a neurobehavioral syndrome, Mild Behavioral Impairment (MBI), as a risk indicator in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). MBI is a relatively newer concept and believed to precede cognitive decline. The authors examined psychometric, neuroimaging, and neuropathologic evidence to highlight utility of MBI in early identification of AD. Marrero-Polegre et al. attempted to identify subtle cognitive changes by measuring visual processing speed, a basic visual attention function that influences global cognition. In a group of cognitively healthy community dwelling elderly individuals, lower visual processing speed correlated with subjective cognitive decline. Jang et al. investigated whether a Virtual reality (VR)-based cognitive assessment program can be as effective as traditional methods to screen individuals for cognitive impairment. This is a small step in the direction of wider use of VR based technology in detection and treatment of neurocognitive disorders. In this experiment, VR based assessment outperformed existing screening tools. Lombardi et al. examined a public health aspect of early identification of neurocognitive disorder i.e., by providing education to primary care providers. The educational intervention not only improved the early detection but also the management practices. This multicentric study conducted throughout Italy provide evidence and a template for implementation of such programs in other countries. Subjective cognitive and memory decline can precede cognitive decline. Pacifico et al. explored the associations of subjective cognitive decline and subjective memory decline with objective cognitive and memory performances, disability, and depressive symptoms. Their observation of disability mediating the associations of objective performance and subjective report highlight the need for further inquiry in this direction. Lastly, in an assessment of neuroimaging-based methodology to improve identification and quantification of small vessel disease, Gaubert et al. compared available tools in multicenter context. Their results provide recommendations for future studies about segmentation tools for white matter hyperintensities.

The special topic research articles offer a comprehensive range of methods and techniques to enhance the early identification of cognitive impairment, which can potentially contribute to the advancement of neurocognitive disorder care. Moreover, these research articles may either reinforce ongoing research or stimulate novel research avenues.

Author contributions

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Keywords: neurocognitive deficit, cognition, early - biomarkers, aging, disability

Citation: Bishnoi RJ (2023) Editorial: Early detection and management of neurocognitive disorders. Front. Psychiatry 14:1199593. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1199593

Received: 03 April 2023; Accepted: 10 April 2023;
Published: 24 April 2023.

Edited and reviewed by: Marco Filardi, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy

Copyright © 2023 Bishnoi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Ram J. Bishnoi, bishnoi@usf.edu

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.