Unmet needs among those living at home with dementia

A study involving 254 people with dementia living at home has found that 99% of people with dementia and 97% of their caregivers had one or more unmet needs, 90% of which were safety-related. More than half of the patients had inadequate meaningful daily activities at a senior center or at home, one-third still needed a dementia evaluation or diagnosis, and more than 60% needed medical care for conditions related or unrelated to their dementia.

Unmet needs were significantly greater in those with higher cognitive function, in those with more depression, and those with lower income. Caregivers with less education and more symptoms of depression also had significantly more unmet needs.

Previous research has shown that greater unmet needs among people with dementia are predictive of nursing home placement and death. Caregiver stress also predicts nursing home admission for people with dementia.

The findings suggests that routine assessments of patient and caregiver care needs coupled with simple fixes in basic medical and supportive services and safety (such as, grab bars in the bathroom, carpets safely tacked down to prevent falls, and — a very American one — guns locked away) could go a long way toward keeping those with dementia from ending up in a nursing or assisted-living facility.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/jhm-lah121913.php

[3553] Black, B. S., Johnston D., Rabins P. V., Morrison A., Lyketsos C., & Samus Q. M.
(2013).  Unmet Needs of Community-Residing Persons with Dementia and Their Informal Caregivers: Findings from the Maximizing Independence at Home Study.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 61(12), 2087 - 2095.

Related News

A study in which 64 sedentary older adults (aged 60-88) participated in a 12-week exercise program found that those who engaged in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) saw an improvement of up to 30% in memory performance while participants who engaged in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise s

A study involving 30 previously physically inactive older adults (aged 61-88) found that a three-month exercise program reversed some brain atrophy.

A long-running study following 387 Australian women found that regular exercise in middle age was the best lifestyle change they could make to prevent cognitive decline in their later years.

A large study, involving nearly 14,000 older adults (50+) participating in the 2006 Health and Retirement Study, found that weaker handgrip strength was associated with a greater risk of developing cognitive impairment, especially severe impairment, over the eight-year study period.

Data from the long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, involving 960 participants who completed a food frequency questionnaire from 2004 to 2013, found that those who ate one daily serving of green, leafy vegetables had a slower rate of cognitive decline than people who rarely or never ate th

A study involving 99 healthy older adults found that levels of monounsaturated fatty acids were associated with cognitive performance and the organization of the brain's attention network.

Data from 915 older adults (mean age 81.4) participating in the very long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, has found that those who reported eating seafood less than once a week showed greater cognitive decline compared to those who ate at least one seafood meal per week.

Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, involving 8,574 middle-aged and older adults (aged 45-85), has found that those who ate more vegetables and fruits and more nuts and pulses (such as lentils and beans) scored higher on tests of verbal fluency.

Analysis of data from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and AREDS2, involving a total of around 8,000 older adults, has found that those with the greatest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had the lowest risk of cognitive impairment.

A 10-year study involving 19,887 middle-aged and older Americans, who completed surveys every two years about their health and lifestyle, has found that those who had a drink or two a day tended to show less cognitive decline, compared to non-drinkers.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.