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Design and dementia: A case of garments designed to prevent undressing

August 14, 2012 Comments off

Design and dementia: A case of garments designed to prevent undressing

Source: Dementia

This article focuses on garments used in care environments. We investigate a patient overall, developed for the care of people with severe memory problems, severe learning difficulties and brain injuries. The aim of the use of a patient overall is to prevent undressing in socially inappropriate situations and/or to stop the user from removing an incontinence pad. This article is based on interviews of designers of medical textiles and patients and family carers in Finland. Both designers and patients found patient overalls to be infantilizing and stigmatizing for the user but accepted the basic functions of the product. We report results of a design project aimed at designing a new type of garment that takes into account the technical requirements but provides a more dignified look and opportunities for activity. We discuss the ethical issues concerning the use of this kind of product in the care of people with dementia.

Informant-reported cognitive symptoms that predict amnestic mild cognitive impairment

February 8, 2012 Comments off
Source:  BMC Geriatrics
Background
Differentiating amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) from normal cognition is difficult in clinical settings. Self-reported and informant-reported memory complaints occur often in both clinical groups, which then necessitates the use of a comprehensive neuropsychological examination to make a differential diagnosis. However, the ability to identify cognitive symptoms that are predictive of aMCI through informant-based information may provide some clinical utility in accurately identifying individuals who are at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Methods
The current study utilized a case-control design using data from an ongoing validation study of the Alzheimer’s Questionnaire (AQ), an informant-based dementia assessment. Data from 51 cognitively normal (CN) individuals participating in a brain donation program and 47 aMCI individuals seen in a neurology practice at the same institute were analyzed to determine which AQ items differentiated aMCI from CN individuals.
Results
Forward stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis which controlled for age and education showed that 4 AQ items were strong indicators of aMCI which included: repetition of statements and/or questions [OR 13.20 (3.02, 57.66)]; trouble knowing the day, date, month, year, and time [OR 17.97 (2.63, 122.77)]; difficulty managing finances [OR 11.60 (2.10, 63.99)]; and decreased sense of direction [OR 5.84 (1.09, 31.30)].
Conclusions
Overall, these data indicate that certain informant-reported cognitive symptoms may help clinicians differentiate individuals with aMCI from those with normal cognition. Items pertaining to repetition of statements, orientation, ability to manage finances, and visuospatial disorientation had high discriminatory power.

Full Paper (PDF)

2011 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures

November 2, 2011 Comments off

2011 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures (PDF)
Source: Alzheimer’s Association

2011 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures provides a statistical resource for U.S. data related to Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, as well as other dementias. Background and context for interpretation of the data are contained in the Overview. This information includes definitions of the types of dementia and a summary of current knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease. Additional sections address prevalence, mortality, caregiving and use and costs of care and services. The Special Report focuses on the benefits and challenges of early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
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Moderate alcohol consumption and cognitive risk

August 18, 2011 Comments off

Moderate alcohol consumption and cognitive risk (PDF)
Source: Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment

We reviewed 143 papers that described the relationship between moderate drinking of alcohol and some aspect of cognition. Two types of papers were found: (1) those that provided ratios of risk between drinkers and nondrinkers (74 papers in total) and (2) those that, although they did not provide such ratios, allowed cognition in drinkers to be rated as “better,” “no different,” or “worse” than cognition in nondrinkers (69 papers in total). The history of research on moderate drinking and cognition can be divided into two eras: 1977–1997 and 1998–present. Phase I (1977–1997) was the era of neuropsychological evaluation involving mostly young to middle-aged (18–50 years old) subjects. Although initial studies indicated moderate drinking impaired cognition, many later studies failed to confirm this, instead finding no difference in cognition between drinkers and nondrinkers. Phase II (1998–present) was and is the era of mental status exam evaluation involving mostly older (≥55 years old) subjects. These studies overwhelmingly found that moderate drinking either reduced or had no effect on the risk of dementia or cognitive impairment. When all the ratios of risk from all the studies in phase II providing such ratios are entered into a comprehensive meta-analysis, the average ratio of risk for cognitive risk (dementia or cognitive impairment/decline) associated with moderate “social” (not alcoholic) drinking of alcohol is 0.77, with nondrinkers as the reference group. The benefit of moderate drinking applied to all forms of dementia (dementia unspecified, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia) and to cognitive impairment (low test scores), but no significant benefit against cognitive decline (rate of decline in test scores) was found. Both light and moderate drinking provided a similar benefit, but heavy drinking was associated with nonsignificantly higher cognitive risk for dementia and cognitive impairment. Although the meta-analysis also indicated that wine was better than beer or spirits, this was based on a relatively small number of studies because most studies did not distinguish among these different types of alcohol. Furthermore, a number of the studies that did make the distinction reported no difference among the effects of these different types of alcohol. Therefore, at present this question remains unanswered. Analysis also showed that the presence of the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele eliminated the benefit of moderate drinking. However, this was based on a relatively small number of studies and several other studies have found a beneficial effect of the epsilon e4 allele. Further studies are necessary to settle this question. The benefit of moderate alcohol for cognition was seen in both men and women, although the amount and pattern of drinking is very different between the two sexes. Lastly, the finding of unaffected or significantly reduced cognitive risk in light to moderate drinkers was seen in 14/19 countries for which country-specific ratio data were available, with three of the five remaining countries showing nonsignificant reductions as well. Overall, light to moderate drinking does not appear to impair cognition in younger subjects and actually seems to reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline in older subjects.

People with Dementia as Witnesses to Emotional Events

July 18, 2011 Comments off

People with Dementia as Witnesses to Emotional Events (PDF)
Source: National Institute of Justice

Demented elders are often the only witnesses to crimes against them, such as physical or financial elder abuse, yet they are disparaged and discounted as unreliable. Clinical experience with this population indicates that significant emotional experiences may be salient to people with dementia, and that certain behaviors and characteristics enhance their credibility as historians. For example, someone in an early stage of the disease may be able to reliably report on an event with strong emotional content. This is the first systematic research to identify people with dementia with reliable emotional memory and their characteristics.

A significant subset of older adults with dementing illnesses can reliably report emotional events in their lives. Compared to people with dementia with less reliable emotional memory, these individuals are able to report details of the event accurately and to recall the same event again after a short time delay. They are also likely to be an earlier stage of the disease, more aware of their own cognitive impairment, more likely to report negative events in their lives and to be able to recall an event without cues.

Older adults with dementia who are victims of crime should be evaluated for their ability to remember emotional events in their lives, and based on the results, allowed to provide testimony about the criminal events.
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UK — Optimising treatment and care for people for people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia

June 13, 2011 Comments off

Optimising treatment and care for people for people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (PDF)
Source: Department of Health

This best practice guide has been designed to support health and social care professionals to determine the best treatment and care for people experiencing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).

Theoretical Model Development in Elder Mistreatment

June 2, 2011 Comments off

Theoretical Model Development in Elder Mistreatment (PDF)
Source: National Institute of Justice

Elder mistreatment inquiry is a relative newcomer to the family violence arena and its empirically-based knowledge lacks a theoretical framework within which to understand its multiple manifestations. Effective intervention and prevention strategies depend upon theory-driven hypotheses testing in order to understand how risk factors at various social-ecological levels interact in the etiology of elder mistreatment. To foster theoretical model development, this article: (1) takes inventory of the empirically derived knowledge on elder mistreatment; (2) reviews the major theoretical approaches to the etiology of elder mistreatment; (3) proposes a new model of elder mistreatment of older adults with cognitive impairment. Each component of the NIJ-funded work was heavily informed by the methods and models from the adjacent areas of inquiry, child maltreatment and intimate partner violence. Information was obtained through an extensive literature review of the criminal justice, psychology, sociology, gerontology, forensics, and public health literature as well as from interviews with experts from elder mistreatment, child maltreatment, and intimate partner violence.

Medicare Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Claims for Elderly Nursing Home Residents

May 11, 2011 Comments off

Medicare Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Claims for Elderly Nursing Home Residents
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General

For the period January 1 through June 30, 2007, we determined using medical record review that 51 percent of Medicare claims for atypical antipsychotic drugs were erroneous, amounting to $116 million.

A member of Congress requested that OIG evaluate the extent to which elderly nursing home residents receive atypical antipsychotic drugs and the associated cost to Medicare. Specifically, this member expressed concern with atypical antipsychotic drugs prescribed to elderly nursing home residents for off-label conditions (i.e., conditions other than schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder) and/or in the presence of the condition specified in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) boxed warning (i.e., dementia). Medicare requires that drugs be prescribed for “medically accepted indications” for reimbursement. Further, CMS sets standards to ensure that nursing home residents’ drug therapy regimens are free from unnecessary drugs.

We also found that 14 percent of the 2.1 million elderly (i.e., age 65 and older) nursing home residents had at least 1 claim for these drugs. We determined using medical record review that 83 percent of Medicare claims for atypical antipsychotic drugs for elderly nursing home residents were associated with off-label conditions and that 88 percent were associated with the condition specified in the FDA boxed warning. We further determined through medical record review that 22 percent of the atypical antipsychotic drugs associated with the claims were not administered in compliance with CMS standards regarding unnecessary drugs in nursing homes, amounting to $63 million. Nursing homes’ failure to comply with these standards may affect their participation in Medicare. However, nursing homes’ noncompliance with these standards does not cause Medicare payments for these drugs to be erroneous.

To ensure that Medicare correctly pays for atypical antipsychotic drugs and that elderly nursing home residents are free from unnecessary drugs, we recommend that CMS (1) facilitate access to information necessary to ensure accurate coverage and reimbursement determinations, (2) assess whether survey and certification processes offer adequate safeguards against unnecessary antipsychotic drug use in nursing homes, (3) explore alternative methods beyond survey and certification processes to promote compliance with Federal standards regarding unnecessary drug use in nursing homes, and (4) take appropriate action regarding the claims associated with erroneous payments identified in our sample.

In its written comments on the report, CMS shared our concern and that of Congress over whether atypical antipsychotics and other drugs are being appropriately prescribed for elderly nursing home residents. CMS concurred with the second, third, and fourth recommendations; however, CMS did not concur with the first recommendation and expressed several general concerns with the report.

CMS did not concur with the first recommendation, stating that diagnosis information is not a required data element of pharmacy billing transactions nor is it generally included on prescriptions. OIG recognizes that the industry has not developed a standardized way of collecting diagnosis information for prescription drugs. However, without access to diagnosis information, CMS cannot determine the indications for which drugs were used. For this reason, CMS is unable, absent a medical review, to determine whether claims meet payment requirements.

Although CMS concurred with the second recommendation, we further recommend that CMS use its authority through the survey and certification processes to hold nursing homes accountable when unnecessary drug use is detected.

Although CMS concurred with the third recommendation, it did not believe some of the examples of alternative methods to promote compliance provided in the report to be practicable. We suggest that CMS either use its existing authority or seek new statutory authority to prevent payment and hold nursing homes responsible for submitting claims for drugs that are not administered according to CMS’s standards regarding unnecessary drug use in nursing homes.

+ Full Report (PDF)

Prediction of Dementia in Primary Care Patients

March 16, 2011 Comments off

Prediction of Dementia in Primary Care Patients
Source: PLoS ONE

Background
Current approaches for AD prediction are based on biomarkers, which are however of restricted availability in primary care. AD prediction tools for primary care are therefore needed. We present a prediction score based on information that can be obtained in the primary care setting.

Methodology/Principal Findings
We performed a longitudinal cohort study in 3.055 non-demented individuals above 75 years recruited via primary care chart registries (Study on Aging, Cognition and Dementia, AgeCoDe). After the baseline investigation we performed three follow-up investigations at 18 months intervals with incident dementia as the primary outcome.

The best set of predictors was extracted from the baseline variables in one randomly selected half of the sample. This set included age, subjective memory impairment, performance on delayed verbal recall and verbal fluency, on the Mini-Mental-State-Examination, and on an instrumental activities of daily living scale. These variables were aggregated to a prediction score, which achieved a prediction accuracy of 0.84 for AD. The score was applied to the second half of the sample (test cohort). Here, the prediction accuracy was 0.79. With a cut-off of at least 80% sensitivity in the first cohort, 79.6% sensitivity, 66.4% specificity, 14.7% positive predictive value (PPV) and 97.8% negative predictive value of (NPV) for AD were achieved in the test cohort. At a cut-off for a high risk population (5% of individuals with the highest risk score in the first cohort) the PPV for AD was 39.1% (52% for any dementia) in the test cohort.

Conclusions
The prediction score has useful prediction accuracy. It can define individuals (1) sensitively for low cost-low risk interventions, or (2) more specific and with increased PPV for measures of prevention with greater costs or risks. As it is independent of technical aids, it may be used within large scale prevention programs.

Categories: dementia, PLoS ONE
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