Forskningsartikler

Backgroud: Farm-based day care services (FDCs) for people with dementia are intending to provide social relationships and meaningful activities in an agricultural landscape and offer respite for next of kin. As this requires a certain cognitive and physical functioning, it is of interest to investigate how this service contribute during the course of dementia. In this study we aim to explore the individual characteristics predicting dropout from FDC. Furthermore, we investigate whether the participants who drop out of the service continue to live at home with another day care service or if they move to a residential care facility.
Methods:
The study includes 92 people with dementia attending FDCs in Norway, assessed with standardized instruments at baseline between January 2017 and January 2018. They were followed for 1 year, and dropouts from FDC during this period were mapped. The association between individual characteristics and dropout was assessed using a Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.
Results: Thirty-eight people stopped attending FDCs during the study. Twenty-six moved to residential care. Among the 12 who continued to live in their own homes, 9 people started in a regular day care service. Higher score on educational level and more severe dementia, as well as lower scores on social support, increased the probability of stopping FDC.
Conclusion: FDCs appeared as a service that is stable over time for most participants, as more than two-third could use the care facility until the need of residential care. The transfers within care services and levels of care seemed to be characterized by continuity. More research on the growing population of educated older adults with dementia are warranted, to facilitate for their course of care needs. Finally, extended knowledge is needed to improve the collaboration between private and public networks, such as day care services, to improve the experience of social support for people with dementia.

Tanja L. Ibsen, Øyvind Kirkevold, Grete G. Patil and Siren Eriksen

Background: With an increasing number of people with dementia worldwide and limited advancement in medical treatments, the call for new and cost-effective approaches is crucial. The utility of self-management has been proven in certain chronic conditions. However, very little work has been undertaken regarding self-management in people with dementia.
Methods: The SHAPE trial will include 372 people with mild to moderate dementia to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an educational programme combining approaches of self-management, health promotion, and e-learning for care partners. The study is a multi-site, single-randomised, controlled, single-blinded trial with parallel arms. The intervention arm is compared with treatment as usual. The intervention comprises a 10-week course delivered as group sessions for the participants with dementia. The sessions are designed to develop self-management skills and to provide information on the nature of the condition and the development of healthy behaviours in a supportive learning environment. An e-learning course will be provided for care partners which covers similar and complementary material to that discussed in the group sessions for the participant with dementia.
Discussion: This trial will explore the effect of the SHAPE group intervention on people with mild to moderate dementia in terms of self-efficacy and improvement in key health and mental health outcomes and cost-effectiveness, along with carer stress and knowledge of dementia.

Ingelin Testad, Linda Clare, Kaarin Anstey, Geir Selbæk, Guro Hanevold Bjørkløf, Catherine Henderson, Ingvild Dalen, Martha Therese Gjestsen, Shelley Rhodes, Janne Røsvik, Jessica Bollen, Jessica Amos, Martine Marie Kajander, Lynne Quinn and Martin Knapp

Objectives: To explore the course of psychotropic drug (PTD) prescription from admission (BL) to 6-month follow-up (6m) in Norwegian nursing homes (NHs). To examine how clinical variables, such as neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), cognition, physical health, and NH characteristics at BL are associated with prescription rates at 6 months.
Design: An observational longitudinal cohort study (data from the Resource Use and Disease Course in Dementia–Nursing Home study) designed to examine the course of dementia, psychiatric and somatic diseases, and drug prescriptions in NH patients during the first 6 months after admission.
Setting and participants: We included 696 patients at admission to 47 representative Norwegian NHs.
Methods: Demographic and clinical characteristics at BL and 6m are presented. Dementia severity was assessed by the Clinical Dementia Rating scale and the Functional Assessment Staging of Alzheimer’s Disease scale. Final diagnosis was made by 2 of the authors (G.S. and S.B.) according to ICD-10 criteria. Prevalence, incidence, and persistence rates of PTD prescriptions for people with dementia are presented. Generalized mixed models were used to identify possible predictors for the course of PTD prescription from BL to 6m.
Results:
Prescription rates of antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, sedatives, and hypnotics increased in people with dementia from BL (67.5% received at least 1 PTD) to 6m (74.0% received at least 1 PTD). Younger age and higher Neuropsychiatric Inventory–affective subsyndrome score at BL were associated with higher odds of antidepressant prescription, whereas patients with higher comorbidity at BL had lower odds of receiving antidepressants, both at BL and 6m. Higher Neuropsychiatric Inventory-affective subsyndrome scores at BL were associated with higher odds of sedative and hypnotic prescription at both assessment points.
Conclusions and implications:
PTD prescription rates increase from BL to 6m. Medication appropriateness should be frequently evaluated after admission to optimize PTD prescriptions.

Enrico Callegari, Jūratė Šaltytė Benth, Geir Selbæk, Cato Grønnerød Lic, Sverre Bergh

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is an innate immune receptor expressed by microglia. Its cleaved fragments, soluble TREM2 (sTREM2), can be measured in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Previous studies indicate higher CSF sTREM2 in symptomatic AD; however most of these studies have included biomarker positive AD cases and biomarker negative controls. The aim of the study was to explore potential differences in the CSF level of sTREM2 and factors associated with an increased sTREM2 level in patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia due to AD compared with cognitively unimpaired controls as judged by clinical symptoms and biomarker category (AT). We included 299 memory clinic patients, 62 (20.7%) with AD-MCI and 237 (79.3%) with AD dementia, and 113 cognitively unimpaired controls. CSF measures of the core biomarkers were applied to determine AT status. CSF sTREM2 was analyzed by ELISA. Patients presented with comparable CSF sTREM2 levels as the cognitively unimpaired (9.6 ng/ml [SD 4.7] versus 8.8 ng/ml [SD 3.6], p = 0.27). We found that CSF sTREM2 associated with age-related neuroinflammation and tauopathy irrespectively of amyloid β, APOE ε4 status or gender. The findings were similar in both symptomatic and non-symptomatic individuals.

Anne-Brita Knapskog, Kristi Henjum, Ane-Victoria Idland, Rannveig Sakshaug Eldholm, Karin Persson, Ingvild Saltvedt, Leiv Otto Watne, Knut Engedal & Lars N. G. Nilsson