Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:02:34.097Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Toxic and Metabolic Encephalopathies in Long-Term Care Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2005

Ira R. Katz ,
Patricia Parmelee  and
Kenneth Brubaker
Ira R. Katz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Patricia Parmelee
Affiliation:
Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Kenneth Brubaker
Affiliation:
Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

Evaluation of the change in performance on the Blessed Memory Information Concentration Test over a one-year period was used as a probe for the prevalence of reversible cognitive disorders among patients living in a residential care facility. Of 157 patients with cognitive impairment at the initial assessment, 10 (6.4%) improved by 6 points or more, 19 (12.1%) improved by 5 points or more, and 15 (9.6%) had a reduction in the number of errors by 33% or more. Thus, using improvement over time as an indicator, we estimate that 6% to 12% of the elderly patients in our sample had a reversible component to their cognitive impairment at the initial assessment. Retrospective review of medical records identified (one or more) possible causes for impairment at baseline in each of the ten patients who showed the greatest improvement: adverse drug effects in seven patients, depression in two, and metabolic encephalopathies in three.

Type
The Impact of Care Delivery Setting and Patient Selection in Shaping Research Questions and Results
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , December 1991 , pp. 337 - 347
Copyright
© 1991 Springer Publishing Company

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)