Publications by authors named "L Froelich"
Article Synopsis
- Dementia, particularly with severe behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD), greatly affects quality of life and is a main cause of death in older adults; this study looked at factors predicting mortality in these patients.
- Over 4 years, 32.5% of 508 participants with severe BPSD died, with non-survivors generally being older, more likely male, and showing greater symptom severity and lower cognitive and functional capabilities at the start.
- Key mortality predictors identified were male sex, older age at diagnosis, higher BPSD severity scores, lower cognitive function, worse daily living capabilities, and lower quality of life, while the use of antidepressants was linked to a reduced mortality risk.
Article Synopsis
- * Concerns are raised about purely biological definitions being used in clinical settings, especially since many biomarker-positive but cognitively normal individuals may never develop symptoms, complicating diagnosis and patient understanding.
- * The authors advocate for a combined clinical-biological definition of AD that accommodates at-risk and presymptomatic stages, emphasizing the need for caution in diagnosing AD without fully understanding the implications for patients.
Background: Nursing home placement (NHP) can be the final step of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Objective: We aimed to identify NHP predictors among 508 people with dementia with a 3-year follow-up.
Methods: We analyzed data from the international observational RECage study, involving 508 people with especially Alzheimer's disease and comparing a cohort enrolled by five centers with a Special Care Unit for BPSD (behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia) and another one enrolled by six centers lacking this facility.
The recent commercialisation of the first disease-modifying drugs for Alzheimer's disease emphasises the need for consensus recommendations on the rational use of biomarkers to diagnose people with suspected neurocognitive disorders in memory clinics. Most available recommendations and guidelines are either disease-centred or biomarker-centred. A European multidisciplinary taskforce consisting of 22 experts from 11 European scientific societies set out to define the first patient-centred diagnostic workflow that aims to prioritise testing for available biomarkers in individuals attending memory clinics.
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