Long-term Course of Alzheimer Disease in Patients Treated According to the Dutch Dementia Guideline at a Memory Clinic: A "Real-Life" Study.

Introduction: There is little knowledge of the long-term course of Alzheimer disease (AD) in light of current pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions provided in a "real-life" setting.

Methods: The Frisian Alzheimer's Disease Cohort study is a "real-life" study of the course of AD in patients (n=576) treated with pharmacological (ie, cholinesterase inhibitors) and nonpharmacological (ie, case management, respite care) interventions. Disease course was described by changes in cognition (Mini Mental State Examination, clock-drawing test) and number of types of professional care applying a repeated-measures analysis using a marginal model (population-based average model).

Nutritional interventions in community-dwelling Alzheimer patients with (risk of) undernutrition: a systematic review.

Background: Weight loss and undernutrition are common in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and associated with negative health outcomes. In the current guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of AD, no recommendations for treatment of (risk of) undernutrition in community-dwelling AD patients are given.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review on the effect of nutritional interventions in community-dwelling AD patients with (risk of) undernutrition, according to the methods outlined by the Cochrane Collaboration.

[Presentation of illness in the elderly: a simple explanation for a complex problem].

Illness presentation in the elderly is often complex and atypical. This may cause negative health outcomes. In the standard medical model of diagnosis, there is a 1:1 correspondence between clinical signs and symptoms and a pathological disease process.