Change in Daily Activities for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia
Author Information
Author(s): G Iain Carpenter, Charlotte L Hastie, John N Morris, Brant E Fries, Joel Ankri
Primary Institution: Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent
Hypothesis
The study aims to assess the responsiveness of the MDS-ADL scale to change over time in nursing home residents with moderate to severe dementia.
Conclusion
The MDS-ADL Long Form scale detected clinically meaningful change in physical function in nursing home residents with moderate to severe dementia.
Supporting Evidence
- The study included a large sample of 11,617 nursing home residents.
- Residents with moderate cognitive impairment showed a mean decline of 1.78 points in physical function.
- Residents with severe cognitive impairment showed a mean decline of 1.70 points in physical function.
- Approximately one quarter of residents in both groups showed some improvement in physical function.
Takeaway
This study looked at how nursing home residents with dementia got better or worse at doing daily activities over six months. It found that many residents got worse, but some even improved.
Methodology
Longitudinal data were collected from nursing home residents with moderate and severe dementia using the MDS-ADL scale over three and six months.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to the exclusion of residents with comorbid illnesses and those who died or moved from the nursing home.
Limitations
The study did not include residents who were lost to follow-up, which may have affected the results.
Participant Demographics
The moderate impairment group had a mean age of 85.6 years, 80% female; the severe impairment group had a mean age of 85.4 years, 80% female.
Statistical Information
P-Value
1.78 for moderate impairment, 1.70 for severe impairment
Confidence Interval
95% CI; 1.67 to 1.91 for moderate impairment, 95% CI; 1.59 to 1.83 for severe impairment
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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