B – 97 Examining Self- and Caregiver-Reported Anxiety in Older Adults in Relation to Verbal and Nonverbal Learning

Abstract Objective This study aimed to examine how both self- and caregiver-reported anxiety symptoms relate to verbal and nonverbal memory encoding. Additionally, the study investigated whether caregiver distress about patient’s anxiety mediated the relationship between patient self- and caregiver-reported anxiety severity. Method The study included an outpatient sample of 754 adults (aged 56-98; Mage = 76.23±6.99; 48.8% female) receiving neuropsychological assessment services for cognitive concerns and their accompanying caregivers. Participants completed a self-reported Geriatric Anxiety Scale to assess their anxiety symptoms; were administered Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised to assess verbal and nonverbal memory. Their caregivers completed Neuropsychiatric Inventory subscales of anxiety. Analyses were conducted in SPSS version 29; mediation analysis was computed via the PROCESS v 4.0 macros. Results A simple linear regression showed that patient’s self-reported anxiety (M = 11.80) were positively associated with verbal memory encoding (b = .117, p = .001). However, there was no correlation between caregiver-reported patient anxiety severity and patient’s verbal memory encoding (r = -.03, p = .40). Neither self- (r = -.07, p = .17) nor caregiver-reported patient anxiety severity (r = -.05, p = .31 > .05) was related to patient’s nonverbal memory encoding. Mediation analysis revealed caregiver’s distress about patient’s anxiety partially mediated the relationship between self-reported anxiety and caregiver-reported patient anxiety severity (indirect effect b = .02, 95% CI [.02, .03]). Conclusion Results highlighted the importance of considering caregiver factors, such as burden and emotional distress, as caregiver reports of anxiety may reflect patient-reported anxiety more than objective cognitive performance.