Abstract
Mucha et al (Road To The Nursing Home: Costs And Disease Progression Among Medicare Beneficiaries With ADRD) estimate long-term care costs and disease progression among Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions using a retrospective analysis of Medicare Part A claims and nursing home Minimum Data Set records, grouping expenditures as before diagnosis, before nursing home placement and after placement. Mucha et al determined that Medicare reimbursements increased substantially as individuals passed through the groups. They concluded that Medicare expenditures are higher in terminal phases of dementia, particularly when there are comorbidities.
In Facial Expression in Alzheimer’s Disease: Impact of Cognitive Deficits and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms, Seidl et al note the importance of nonverbal communication in caregiver–patient interactions when there is a reduced ability to communicate verbally. They investigated the impact of cognitive deficits and apathy on facial expression in Alzheimer’s disease. Apathy proved to be important, even after controlling for the level of the cognitive deficits. Also, Seidl et al found that cognitive deficits were associated with less specific facial expressions. They concluded that symptoms of apathy are associated with specific facial expression in Alzheimer’s patients and they speculated that this may contribute to a disregard for patients’ needs.
Maci et al suggest that physical activity and cognitive stimulation have a positive effect on the quality of life in Alzheimer’s disease individuals. They designed a pilot project to assess the effect of cognitive stimulation, physical activity, and socialization on Alzheimer’s disease patients and their caregiver’s quality of life and mood. After their project, there was an improvement in apathy, anxiety, depression, and overall quality of life. Caregivers showed improvement in their mood and their perception of the patients’ quality of life. Their combined approach (cognitive stimulation, physical activity, and socialization) seemed to improve mood and quality of life in Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers.
In Predicting Facilitators’ Behaviors during Alzheimer’s Family Support Group Meetings, Steffen and Jackson used a social–ecological model to predict facilitators’ behaviors during Alzheimer’s Association sponsored family support group meetings. Their study supported the use of ecological models that emphasize the influence of social context. This work has implications for facilitator training and support group management.
In Cognitive stimulation in a-MCI: an experimental study, Moro et al evaluates cognitive training in mild cognitive impairment using a program aimed at teaching memory strategies and improving metacognitive abilities. They also incorporated training to reduce caregivers’ assistance. Moro et al concluded that training may reduce memory impairment in mild cognitive impairment.
Dimitrov et al (Prevalence of Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment in a Bulgarian Urban Population) conducted a 2-phase cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of dementia subtypes and mild cognitive impairment in a Bulgarian population. Dementia was diagnosed in 7.2% and mild cognitive impairment in 6.7%. Not unexpectedly, Alzheimer’s disease was the most frequent dementia subtype followed by vascular dementia. They conclude that vascular cognitive impairment may be more common in Bulgaria than in many other European countries.