CampaignsHealthcare RationingAlzheimer's treatmentNursing home placement can accelerate Alzheimer's Nursing home placement can accelerate Alzheimer's
05/06/2007
A new USA study has highlighted the benefit of adult day care programmes as a transition stage from independent living to full-time nursing home placement. After following 432 older people with Alzheimers over a four year period, those who had spent some time in adult day care seemed better able to adjust to an unfamiliar environment, and less likely to deteriorate mentally than those taken from their homes and placed in care with no similar transition period.
Study author Robert S. Wilson, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, said: “The findings suggest that the transition from the community to a nursing home is particularly difficult for people with Alzheimer’s disease and that those planning for their care should consider the possibility that experience in adult day care programs may help prepare affected persons for institutional living.”
The study also found that if an individual had a higher level of education, then their cognitive decline accelerated more rapidly in a nursing home than those with a lower level of education - yet day care use markedly reduced this.
The authors also explored the possibility that the increased decline upon nursing home placement may simply reflect may difficulty adapting to an unfamiliar environment - consistent with reports of increased confusion in those with dementia during hospitalization or trips away from home. But again, those patients who had prior adult day care services were also less confused during hospital visits and trips away.
For more information go the website for the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center at the website linked below.