Publications by authors named "Jennifer A Watt"
Objective: To assess the comparative efficacy of interventions on depressive symptoms and disorders in older adults living in long-term care (LTC).
Design: Systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Setting And Participants: Older adults living in LTC or equivalent settings.
Objectives: To examine transitions to a nursing home among residents of assisted living relative to community-dwelling home care recipients.
Design: Population-based retrospective cohort study emulating a target trial.
Setting And Participants: Linked, individual-level health system data were obtained from older adults (≥65 years of age) who made an incident application for a bed in a nursing home in Ontario, Canada, between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2019, and were followed until December 31, 2019.
Background: Depression is common in persons with dementia and is often under-detected and under-treated. It is critical to understand which available tools accurately detect depression in the context of dementia.
Methods: We updated our systematic review completed in 2015.
Objective: To examine transitions to an assisted living facility among community-dwelling older adults who received publicly funded home care services.
Design: Nested case-control study.
Setting And Participants: Linked, population-level health system administrative data were obtained from adults aged 65 years and older who received home care services in Ontario, Canada, from April 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019.
Introduction: Symptoms of psychosis, characterized by delusions and hallucinations, are commonly experienced by persons living with dementia. A systematic review was completed to identify tools to evaluate symptoms of psychosis compared to a reference standard in persons with dementia. Articles reporting correlation values between psychosis tools were also identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To synthesize recommendations on assessing and managing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSDs) in existing clinical practice guidelines on dementia care to learn from and adapt recommendations to a Canadian context and language for describing BPSDs.
Design: Systematic review.
Setting And Participants: Moderate to high-quality clinical practice guidelines on dementia care that made 1 or more recommendations on BPSD assessment or management.
Background: Our systematic review examines the effectiveness and safety of non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions in preventing or treating traumatic brain injury (TBI)-related delirium in acute care.
Methods: We searched four electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL/CDSR, and PsycINFO) to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-experimental, and observational studies. Eligible studies included adults with TBI, at least one comparator group, delirium as an outcome and took place in acute care.
Background: Research on factors associated with recurrent emergency department (ED) visits and their implications for improving dementia care is lacking. The objective of this study was to examine associations between the individual characteristics of older adults living with dementia and recurrent ED visits.
Methods: We used health administrative databases to conduct a population-based retrospective cohort study among older adults with dementia in Ontario, Canada.
Background: In Canada, virtual health care rapidly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is substantial variability between older adults in terms of digital literacy skills, which precludes equitable participation of some older adults in virtual care. Little is known about how to measure older adults' electronic health (eHealth) literacy, which could help healthcare providers to support older adults in accessing virtual care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is growing evidence of harm associated with trazodone and nonbenzodiazepine sedative hypnotics (e.g., zopiclone); however, their comparative risk of harm is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: falls and fall-related injuries are common in older adults, have negative effects on functional independence and quality of life and are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and health related costs. Current guidelines are inconsistent, with no up-to-date, globally applicable ones present.
Objectives: to create a set of evidence- and expert consensus-based falls prevention and management recommendations applicable to older adults for use by healthcare and other professionals that consider: (i) a person-centred approach that includes the perspectives of older adults with lived experience, caregivers and other stakeholders; (ii) gaps in previous guidelines; (iii) recent developments in e-health and (iv) implementation across locations with limited access to resources such as low- and middle-income countries.
Background: older adults living in long-term care (LTC) commonly suffer from anxiety symptoms and disorders. We completed a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify efficacious treatments for anxiety symptoms for older adults living in LTC.
Methods: we searched five electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) to identify treatments for anxiety that have been trialled in LTC.
Background: Community-dwelling older adults living with dementia visit the emergency department (ED) more frequently than other older adults, but research on the reasons for repeated visits is lacking. We examined the rate of repeated ED visits and reasons for visits in a cohort of individuals with dementia.
Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of community-dwelling older adults (≥66 years) living with dementia in Ontario, Canada, who visited the ED and were discharged home between April 1, 2010, and March 31, 2019.
Background: COVID-19-related physical distancing measures necessitated widespread adoption of virtual care (i.e. telephone or videoconference), but patients, caregivers and healthcare providers raised concerns about its implementation and sustainability given barriers faced by older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/objectives: Virtual (i.e., telephone or videoconference) care was broadly implemented because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe the comparative efficacy of drug and non-drug interventions for reducing symptoms of depression in people with dementia who experience depression as a neuropsychiatric symptom of dementia or have a diagnosis of a major depressive disorder.
Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Data Sources: Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and grey literature between inception and 15 October 2020.
Background: Clinical interpretation of changes measured on a scale is dependent on knowing the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for that scale: the threshold above which clinicians, patients, and researchers perceive an outcome difference. Until now, approaches to determining MCIDs were based upon individual studies or surveys of experts. However, the comparison of meta-analytic treatment effects to a MCID derived from a distribution of standard deviations (SDs) associated with all trial-specific outcomes in a meta-analysis could improve our clinical understanding of meta-analytic treatment effects.
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