Article Synopsis |  | Dementia and nursing home admission are significant threats to quality of life for the elderly in Australia. This report combines two studies also featured on this site and investigates the predictors of nursing home placement and dementia, highlighting the risk factors that could be modified to prevent or delay dementia or placement occurring in later life.
During the study 44 per cent of nursing home placements were primarily due to dementia, but dementia was a secondary diagnosis in another 20 per cent of placements.
Using a proportional hazards model, the findings from the study showed that intake of alcohol predicted a 34 per cent lower risk of dementia, and daily gardening a 36 per cent lower risk. Daily walking predicted a 38 per cent lower risk of dementia in men, but not in women. Higher depression scores predicted a 50 per cent higher risk, and the lower tertile of peak expiratory flow (PEF) predicted an 84 per cent higher risk of dementia.
A cox proportional hazards model showed nursing home placement increased with age, urinary incontinence, impaired PEF, physical disability and depression. The hazard of placement was significantly reduced in the female gender and by reduced alcohol intake.
Similar risk factors for dementia and nursing home placement indicate that the continuation of moderate alcohol intake, the maintenance of physical activity (especially daily gardening), improvement of respiratory function, and the treatment of depression are recommended actions to delay or prevent major negative late-life experiences. |