Search results for ‘Subject term:"agitation"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 2 of 2
Prevalence and correlates of disruptive behavior in patients in Norwegian nursing homes
- Authors:
- TESTAD I., AASLAND A.M., AARSLAND D.
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22(9), September 2007, pp.916-921.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Although behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) increase with increasing dementia severity, and institutionalization of an individual with dementia is often caused by behavioural symptoms, relatively few studies have explored the prevalence of BPSD in nursing homes. This study has taken place in dementia wards in four Norwegian nursing homes. To measure agitation in residents with dementia we used the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), consisting of 29 agitation items. Dementia stage was measured by Functional Assessment Staging (FAST). Two hundred and eleven patients (71% female) were included in the study: mean (SD) age 85.5 (8.4), FAST 4.7 (2.1), CMAI total sumscore 39.5 (12.6). Dementia was present in 167 (79%) subjects. Among those with dementia, weekly occurrence of at least one CMAI item (i.e. a score of 3 or higher) occurred in 75.4% (95% CI 68.4-81.4). Six of the items occurred at least weekly in 20% of the residents with dementia, and 11 of the items, including physical aggression, occurred in less than 5% of the residents. Agitation was associated with more severe dementia (p = 0.001), but not with age and gender. Symptoms of agitation were common, but may
Nursing home structure and association with agitation and use of psychotropic drugs in nursing home residents in three countries: Norway, Austria and England
- Authors:
- TESTAD I., et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25(7), July 2010, pp.725-731.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Agitation is commonly observed in most dementia syndromes. The aim of this exploratory study was to compare the severity of agitation and psychotropic drug use in nursing homes with different organisations and structures in 3 different countries. Baseline data for 3 different intervention studies in Austria (n = 38), England (n = 302) and Norway (n = 163) were combined posthoc for analytical purposes. Patients were grouped according to their dementia severity using the global deterioration scale (GDS), functional assessment staging (FAST) and clinical dementia rating (CDR) scales. For the measurement of agitation, the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) was used. Data analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA, multivariate and linear regression analysis. The results showed that CMAI scores were available for 503 subjects with dementia. There were significant differences between the nursing home residents in the 3 countries regarding age, gender and dementia severity. In the multivariate analyses, the level of agitation differed with higher mean scores in the Austrian compared to UK and Norwegian nursing homes. Similarly, the use of psychotropic drugs differed significantly, with a higher proportion of neuroleptics in UK and Austrian compared to Norwegian nursing homes. The article concludes that there are differences in agitation and antipsychotic drug use which are likely related to structural and cultural differences in nursing homes in these 3 European countries. These findings suggest that structural changes can improve quality of care and quality of life for nursing home