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Dependence in Alzheimer's disease and service use costs, quality of life, and caregiver burden: The DADE study
Author(s) -
Jones Roy W.,
Romeo Renee,
Trigg Richard,
Knapp Martin,
Sato Azusa,
King Derek,
Niecko Timothy,
Lacey Loretto
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2014.03.001
Subject(s) - quality of life (healthcare) , cognition , observational study , bivariate analysis , disease , caregiver burden , multivariate statistics , psychology , clinical psychology , multivariate analysis , alzheimer's disease , gerontology , construct (python library) , medicine , psychiatry , dementia , statistics , mathematics , computer science , psychotherapist , programming language
Background Most models determining how patient and caregiver characteristics and costs change with Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression focus on one aspect, for example, cognition. AD is inadequately defined by a single domain; tracking progression by focusing on a single aspect may mean other important aspects are insufficiently addressed. Dependence has been proposed as a better marker for following disease progression. Methods This was a cross‐sectional observational study (18 UK sites). Two hundred forty‐nine community or institutionalized patients, with possible/probable AD, Mini‐Mental State Examination (3–26), and a knowledgeable informant participated. Results Significant associations noted between dependence (Dependence Scale [DS]) and clinical measures of severity (cognition, function, and behavior). Bivariate and multivariate models demonstrated significant associations between DS and service use cost, patient quality of life, and caregiver perceived burden. Conclusion The construct of dependence may help to translate the combined impact of changes in cognition, function, and behavior into a more readily interpretable form. The DS is useful for assessing patients with AD in clinical trials/research.