Alzheimer

Introduction

Patients were selected to be representative of the wider community of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in terms of gender, severity of illness and life settings. In terms of gravity, is in the description of patients to those classified as mild, moderate and severe composed of approximately 30, 40 and 30% of the total population, respectively (Lawton, 179).

Analysis

The intensity was defined in terms of cognitive impairment with MMSE scores. MMSE score above 20 is defined as "mild" scores between 10 and 20, moderate and those under 10 as severe dementia. To be included in the study, patients had to have a standardized diagnosis of dementia according to the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM - IV), to meet the criteria possible or probable AD, be aged 55 or older, living in London and the South East Region (LASER) - either from North London (downtown and suburban areas) and Essex (semi-rural and the new city), and have a doctor who spent a minimum of 4 hours per week caring for them. Excluded patients included those who did not meet inclusion criteria or refused to take part in the trial (Lawton, 189).

Study design

This was a prospective epidemiological study followed a cohort of patients with AD for 6 months. Data were collected from 224 eligible persons with AD and their caregivers by trained personnel, using validated instruments for evaluation both at baseline and after 6 months.

The trial was conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and its amendments. Eligible patients and their caregiver's written informed consent or, informed consent was not possible due to the severity of AD; the assent of the patient to participate in the trial was obtained. The Local Research Ethics Committees granted ethical approval.

Evaluation Tools

A number of instruments were used in this study to develop and validate a qualitative classification system of disability:

1. Activities of daily living were measured using the Alzheimer Disease Cooperative Study Activities of Daily Living Inventory (ADCS-ADL). It is a qualified medical questionnaire of 23 items with possible scores ranging from 0 to 78, where 78 mean fully operational and unimpaired. The ADCS-ADL functional capacity assessed by a wide spectrum of severity and was the main tool for the ADL data collection for this study population. A modified and validated in the D-test [21] related to serious illness, a measure of ADL according to 16 functional ...