Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra最新文献

Loneliness is a major risk factor for the elderly and can double their problems. When COVID-19 started, things became more difficult for the elderly. The news that the elderly are at a higher risk for severe COVID-19 than others made the elderly lonelier. This is a library type study that was conducted over 2 months using valid scientific sources and books. Based on the findings of this study, we believe that focusing on education and reminding people of the necessary dos and don'ts of illness, modifying their diet, emphasizing masking, and even familiarizing the elderly with social media and virtual activities will prevent them from suffering loneliness.

Introduction: We have developed the Dementia Elderly Odayaka Scale (DEOS) to evaluate psychosocial aspects in older people. The DEOS can be used to assess well-being, such as personhood and social interaction.

Objective: The aim of this study was to apply the 18-item DEOS in participants with dementia and to examine the characteristics and usefulness of this scale.

Methods: Facility staff provided care for the participants while taking into consideration each participant's individuality and strong points. The DEOS was applied at the beginning of the interventions and at 1 and 2 months after the start of the interventions. The changes in the participants' behaviors and their DEOS scores were then evaluated over time.

Results: We examined 13 participants (2 men, 11 women) between the ages of 68 and 91 years. In 60% of the participants the DEOS score increased over time. When care interventions were tailored toward communication and leadership for the 2 men, according to each of their individualities, we observed increases in their scores for "social interaction" at 1 and 2 months thereafter. We also observed increases in the scores for "Expression of emotions" category in 2 of the 5 cases who received an aromatherapy massage.

Discussion/conclusion: The changes in the scores over time and the contents of the field notes were consistent with each other, suggesting that the DEOS can be used both to evaluate the effects of interventions and to plan care that takes advantage of each participant's positive aspects.

Background: Conventional nursing homes in Singapore adopt an institutional and medical model of care with a focus on safety and risk management. As such, less regard is placed on upholding the dignity and autonomy of the resident, which compromises quality of care and the well-being of the resident. Today, person-centred care (PCC) has become synonymous with high-quality care that sustains the well-being and personhood of the care recipient.

Objectives: To describe the model of PCC adopted by a nursing home, Apex Harmony Lodge (AHL), with a logic model and evaluate outcomes on residents' well-being, care quality, and staff attrition by comparing pre-PCC initiation (2015) to post-implementation (2016).

Methods: Male residents in a 30-bed assisted living facility for persons with dementia in AHL were assessed using Dementia Care Mapping. Residents' well-being and staff attrition were measured before and after PCC implementation.

Results: There were statistically significant improvements in resident well-being (Δ = 0.44, p = 0.029), Positive Engagement Potential (Δ = 0.17, p = 0.002), and Occupational Diversity (Δ = 0.12, p = 0.014) in 2016. Withdrawal and Passive Engagement in the residents were reduced significantly as were Care Detractors. There was also a 55% reduction in staff attrition rates post-PCC.

Conclusions: Post-PCC implementation, the outcomes indicate a superior quality of care, enhanced resident well-being, and better staff retention. The AHL PCC model could serve as a roadmap for other nursing homes aspiring to raise the quality of care and influence long-term care standards and regulations for policy makers and legislators.

Background/aims: The aim of this study was to examine the associations between different cognitive domains and hand function in older people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia.

Methods: This study is cross-sectional, including 98 community-living older people aged ≥65 years with MCI or dementia. Assessments of hand function included grip strength, the Finger Tapping Test, and the Grooved Pegboard. Cognitive assessments were the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Clock Drawing Test, and Trail Making Tests A and B, as well as a 10-word List Learning Test. Statistical analyses were based on descriptive statistics and univariable and multivariable analyses.

Results: Sixty participants were diagnosed with MCI and 38 were diagnosed with dementia. The mean age was 78.8 years (SD 7.4). Analyses of hand function, cognitive tests, and demographic factors showed an association between cognitive tests, in particular executive function (EF), and hand function.

Conclusions: The findings indicated an association between physical and cognitive function. Among the cognitive domains, declines in EF were most related to a reduced physical function.

Background: Executive dysfunction is the common thread between pure cortical dementia like the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and subcortical dementia like Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). Although there are clinical and cognitive features to differentiate cortical and subcortical dementia, the behavioral symptoms differentiating these 2 conditions are still not well known.

Objective: To evaluate the behavioral profile of bvFTD and PDD and compare them to find out which behavioral symptoms can differentiate between the two.

Methods: Twenty consecutive patients with bvFTD (>1 year after diagnosis) and 20 PDD patients were recruited according to standard diagnostic criteria. Behavioral symptoms were collected from the reliable caregiver by means of a set of questionnaires and then compared between the 2 groups.

Results: bvFTD patients had more severe disease and more behavioral symptoms than PDD. bvFTD patients were different from PDD patients due to their significantly greater: loss of basic emotion (p < 0.001, odds ratio [OR] 44.33), loss of awareness of pain (p < 0.001, OR 44.33), disinhibition (p < 0.001, OR 35.29), utilization phenomenon (p = 0.008, OR 22.78), loss of taste discrimination (p < 0.001, OR 17), neglect of hygiene (p = 0.001, OR 13.22), loss of embarrassment (p = 0.003, OR 10.52), wandering (p = 0.004, OR 9.33), pacing (p = 0.014, OR 9), selfishness (p = 0.014, OR 9), increased smoking (p = 0.014, OR 9), increased alcohol consumption (p = 0.031, OR 7.36), social avoidance (p = 0.012, OR 6.93), mutism (p = 0.041, OR 5.67), and failure to recognize objects (p = 0.027, OR 4.33). The bvFTD patients were also significantly less suspicious (p = 0.001, OR 0.0295), less inclined to have a false belief that people were in their home (p = 0.014, OR 0.11) and had fewer visual illusions/hallucinations (p = 0.004, OR 0.107) than PDD patients.

Conclusion: Behavioral symptoms are helpful to distinguish bvFTD from PDD, and thus also cortical dementia with frontal-lobe dysfunction from subcortical dementia.

Background/aims: Cognitive impairment is prevalent in older inpatients but may be unrecognized. Screening to identify cognitive deficits is therefore important to optimize care. The 10-point Abbreviated Mental Test Score (AMTS) is widely used in acute hospital settings but its reliability for mild versus more severe cognitive impairment is unknown. We therefore studied the AMTS versus the 30-point Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in older (≥75 years) inpatients.

Methods: The AMTS and MoCA were administered to consecutive hospitalized patients at ≥72 h after admission in a prospective observational study. MoCA testing time was recorded. Reliability of the AMTS for the reference standard defined as mild (MoCA <26) or moderate/severe (MoCA <18) cognitive impairment was assessed using the area under the receiver-operating curve (AUC). Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of low AMTS (<8) for cognitive impairment were determined.

Results: Among 205 patients (mean/SD age = 84.9/6.3 years, 96 (46.8%) male, 74 (36.1%) dementia/delirium), mean/SD AMTS was 7.2/2.3, and mean/SD MoCA was 16.1/6.2 with mean/SD testing time = 17.9/7.2 min. 96/205 (46.8%) had low AMTS whereas 174/185 (94%) had low MoCA: 74/185 (40.0%) had mild and 100 (54.0%) had moderate/severe impairment. Moderate/severe cognitive impairment was more prevalent in the low versus the normal AMTS group: 74/83 (90%) versus 25/102 (25%, p < 0.0001). AUC of the AMTS for mild and moderate/severe impairment were 0.86 (95% CI = 0.80-0.93) and 0.88 (0.82-0.93), respectively. Specificity of AMTS <8 for both mild and moderate/severe cognitive impairment was high (100%, 71.5-100, and 92.7%, 84.8-97.3) but sensitivity was lower (44.8%, 37.0-52.8, and 72.8%, 62.6-81.6, respectively). The negative predictive value of AMTS <8 was therefore low for mild impairment (10.9%, 5.6-18.7) but much higher for moderate/severe impairment (75.2%, 65.7-83.3). All MoCA subtests discriminated between low and normal AMTS groups (all p < 0.0001, except p = 0.002 for repetition) but deficits in delayed recall, verbal fluency and visuo-executive function were prevalent even in the normal AMTS group.

Conclusion: The AMTS is highly specific but relatively insensitive for cognitive impairment: a quarter of those with normal AMTS had moderate/severe impairment on the MoCA with widespread deficits. The AMTS cannot therefore be used as a "rule-out" test, and more detailed cognitive assessment will be required in selected patients.

Introduction: Valid assessments of quality of life (QoL) and cognition are important in caring for individuals with severe dementia; there is an urgent need for validated assessment tools for specific populations. This study aimed to develop and validate Chinese versions of the Quality of Life in Late-Stage Dementia (QUALID-C) scale and the Cognitive Test for Severe Dementia (CTSD-C) for Chinese older adults.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional validation study comprised of 93 Chinese older adults with severe dementia recruited from 6 residential homes. The content and cultural validity of the QUALID-C and CTSD-C were evaluated by a 7-member expert panel, and interrater reliability, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, concurrent validity, and factorial structure were examined.

Results: The QUALID-C showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.65), good interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.99), and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.96). Principal component analysis yielded 3 factors; the items loaded on the factors were comparable to those in previous studies and suggested the scale's multidimensionality to measure QoL. The CTSD-C showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.862), good interrater reliability (ICC = 0.99), and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.958). Principal component analysis yielded 3 factors; the items loaded on factors 1 and 2 resembled the items of the automatic response and attentional control factors of the original study.

Conclusion: The QUALID-C and the CTSD-C are reliable and valid scales to measure the QoL and cognitive functions of Chinese older adults with severe dementia. These assessments can be utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment and future research work.

Introduction: Assessing cognitive function could help to provide appropriate care for nursing home residents. The aim of the study was to identify the factors affecting cognitive function in nursing home residents in Poland and assess how it influenced the mortality rate during a 3-year observational period.

Methods: This study included 202 elderly individuals from a nursing home in 2015. The investigation included examination of cognitive function using the MMSE and bioelectrical impedance analysis. Collected data included sex, age, blood pressure (BP), heart rate, number of comorbidities, years spent in the nursing home, educational level, and cigarette-smoking.

Results: The mean MMSE score was 21.36 ± 6.35, which was negatively correlated with age and diastolic BP (p = 0.001 and p = 0.024, respectively) and positively correlated with body mass, BMI, fat-free mass, fat, muscle mass, and education level (p = 0.004, p = 0.004, p = 002, p = 0.049, p = 0.005, and p ˂ 0.001, respectively). Patients who died during the observational period had lower MMSE scores than those who survived (23.34 ± 5.68 vs. 20.16 ± 6.45; p < 0.001). Smokers had better MMSE results than nonsmokers (23.34 ± 5.98 vs. 20.08 ± 4.94; p < 0.001).

Discussion: Polish nursing home residents had mild cognitive impairment depending on their age, sex, educational level, and nutritional status. Lower MMSE score was a prognostic factor for mortality in the 3-year observational period.

Background/aims: Quality of life (QOL) and Alzheimer disease (AD) among older people have been recognized as public health challenges. Here, we investigated the association between QOL and AD in the elders.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, elderly people were selected from urban health centers (Shiraz, Iran) by multistage cluster random sampling and were interviewed using LEIPAD (for QOL) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (for AD) questionnaires. The data was analyzed using Mplus (version 6.12) and IBM SPSS (version 25) software.

Results: The participants consisted of 182 elderly with a mean age of 67 ± 5.05 years, and 95 (52.2%) of them were females. There were 161 (88.5%) and 130 (71.4%) cases educated up to 12 years and married, respectively. Furthermore, 46 (25.3%) had low-to-moderate QOL, and 132 (72.5%) were suspected to have AD. QOL was inversely associated with AD, and men (β = -0.310) were more affected than women (β = -0.290). AD (β = -0.298), age (β = -0.288), hypertension (β = -0.267), education (β = 0.260), and body mass index (β = -0.198) were determinants of QOL. Also, physical activity was indirectly associated with QOL (β = 0.076). AD was correlated with the cognitive functioning component of QOL (r = -0.72).

Conclusion: One elder out of 4, did not have desirable QOL and 3 elders out of 4 were suspected to have AD. AD can decrease QOL among the older people. Screening of the elders for AD is recommended to improve their QOL by health centers.

Objectives: The present study sought to evaluate the contribution of cardiovascular risk factors to cognitive functioning in a sample of Mexican Americans diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: Hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity were diagnosed based on self-report and/or standardized procedures. Cognitive function was measured with MMSE, Logical Memory I and II, Trail A & B, FAS, animal naming, and digit span tests. Independent samples t tests and two-way ANOVAs were conducted for analyses, adjusting for relevant covariates. We studied 100 Mexican Americans (65 female) with MCI, ages 50-86, from a longitudinal study of cognitive aging conducted at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Results: A difference between subjects with and without obesity and memory scores was shown by t tests. Two-way ANOVAs detected an association between the coexistence of hypertension and diabetes with language measures, diabetes and dyslipidemia with executive function, and diabetes and obesity with memory and language measures.

Conclusions: This study provides additional evidence about the link between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive dysfunction in MCI subjects, and also demonstrated that comorbid risk factors increased the degree of cognitive deficit in many areas, which may indicate a higher risk of developing dementia.