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BMC Geriatrics
Published in: BMC Geriatrics 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research Article

Exploring the prevalence and variance of cognitive impairment, pain, neuropsychiatric symptoms and ADL dependency among persons living in nursing homes; a cross-sectional study

Authors: Sabine Björk, Christina Juthberg, Marie Lindkvist, Anders Wimo, Per-Olof Sandman, Bengt Winblad, David Edvardsson

Published in: BMC Geriatrics | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

Earlier studies in nursing homes show a high prevalence of cognitive impairment, dependency in activities of daily living (ADL), pain, and neuropsychiatric symptoms among residents. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of the above among residents in a nationally representative sample of Swedish nursing homes, and to investigate whether pain and neuropsychiatric symptoms differ in relation to gender, cognitive function, ADL-capacity, type of nursing-home unit and length of stay.

Methods

Cross-sectional data from 188 randomly selected nursing homes were collected. A total of 4831 residents were assessed for cognitive and ADL function, pain and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test.

Results

The results show the following: the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 67 %, 56 % of residents were ADL-dependent, 48 % exhibited pain and 92 % exhibited neuropsychiatric symptoms. The prevalence of pain did not differ significantly between male and female residents, but pain was more prevalent among cognitively impaired and ADL-dependent residents. Pain prevalence was not significantly different between residents in special care units for people with dementia (SCU) and general units, or between shorter-and longer-stay residents. Furthermore, the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms did not differ significantly between male and female residents, between ADL capacities or in relation to length of stay. However, residents with cognitive impairment and residents in SCUs had a significantly higher prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms than residents without cognitive impairment and residents in general units.

Conclusions

The prevalence rates ascertained in this study could contribute to a greater understanding of the needs of nursing-home residents, and may provide nursing home staff and managers with trustworthy assessment scales and benchmark values for further quality assessment purposes, clinical development work and initiating future nursing assessments.
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Metadata
Title
Exploring the prevalence and variance of cognitive impairment, pain, neuropsychiatric symptoms and ADL dependency among persons living in nursing homes; a cross-sectional study
Authors
Sabine Björk
Christina Juthberg
Marie Lindkvist
Anders Wimo
Per-Olof Sandman
Bengt Winblad
David Edvardsson
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Geriatrics / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2318
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-016-0328-9

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