Intrinsic capacity and its associations with incident dependence and mortality in 10/66 Dementia Research Group studies in Latin America, India, and China: A population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) has reframed health and healthcare for older people around achieving the goal of healthy ageing. The recent WHO Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) guidelines focus on maintaining intrinsic capacity, i.e., addressing declines in neuromusculoskeletal, vitality, sensory, cognitive, psychological, and continence domains, aiming to prevent or delay the onset of dependence. The target group with 1 or more declines in intrinsic capacity (DICs) is broad, and implementation may be challenging in less-resourced settings. We aimed to inform planning by assessing intrinsic capacity prevalence, by characterising the target group, and by validating the general approach-testing hypotheses that DIC was consistently associated with higher risks of incident dependence and death. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted population-based cohort studies (baseline, 2003-2007) in urban sites in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, and rural and urban sites in Peru, Mexico, India, and China. Door-knocking identified eligible participants, aged 65 years and over and normally resident in each geographically defined catchment area. Sociodemographic, behaviour and lifestyle, health, and healthcare utilisation and cost questionnaires, and physical assessments were administered to all participants, with incident dependence and mortality ascertained 3 to 5 years later (2008-2010). In 12 sites in 8 countries, 17,031 participants were surveyed at baseline. Overall mean age was 74.2 years, range of means by site 71.3-76.3 years; 62.4% were female, range 53.4%-67.3%. At baseline, only 30% retained full capacity across all domains. The proportion retaining capacity fell sharply with increasing age, and declines affecting multiple domains were more common. Poverty, morbidity (particularly dementia, depression, and stroke), and disability were concentrated among those with DIC, although only 10% were frail, and a further 9% had needs for care. Hypertension and lifestyle risk factors for chronic disease, and healthcare utilisation and costs, were more evenly distributed in the population. In total, 15,901 participants were included in the mortality cohort (2,602 deaths/53,911 person-years of follow-up), and 12,939 participants in the dependence cohort (1,896 incident cases/38,320 person-years). One or more DICs strongly and independently predicted incident dependence (pooled adjusted subhazard ratio 1.91, 95% CI 1.69-2.17) and death (pooled adjusted hazard ratio 1.66, 95% CI 1.49-1.85). Relative risks were higher for those who were frail, but were also substantially elevated for the much larger sub-groups yet to become frail. Mortality was mainly concentrated in the frail and dependent sub-groups. The main limitations were potential for DIC exposure misclassification and attrition bias. CONCLUSIONS: In this study we observed a high prevalence of DICs, particularly in older age groups. Those affected had substantially increased risks of dependence and death. Most needs for care arose in those with DIC yet to become frail. Our findings provide some support for the strategy of optimising intrinsic capacity in pursuit of healthy ageing. Implementation at scale requires community-based screening and assessment, and a stepped-care intervention approach, with redefined roles for community healthcare workers and efforts to engage, train, and support them in these tasks. ICOPE might be usefully integrated into community programmes for detecting and case managing chronic diseases including hypertension and diabetes.

Mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older patients attending a general hospital in south India: DSM-5 standards and correlates.

ABSTRACTBackground and Aims:The changes in DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for dementia (Major neurocognitive disorder (NCD)) and mild cognitive impairment (mild NCD) mandate a re-evaluation of screening instruments. This study attempted to validate screening instruments, identify optimum threshold, and describe their indices of efficacy. METHOD: Consecutive people above the age of 65 years attending the outpatient department of a general hospital were recruited. They were assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Vellore Screening Instruments for Dementia and were evaluated against the DSM-5 standard. Bivariate and multivariate statistics were obtained. Receiver-operating-characteristic curves were drawn, optimum thresholds obtained, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values calculated. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty four older people were recruited. The majority were women, married, with low levels of education, not employed, living with family, and had medical co-morbidity. A minority satisfied DSM-5 criteria for major (1.5%) and mild NCD (36.5%). The factors associated with NCD were older age, fewer years of education, and lower socio-economic status. MMSE, VSID patient, and VSID informant scores were significantly associated with NCD. The indices of efficacy for the MMSE and VSID patient version were modest for identifying Mild NCD. However, their performance in identifying major NCD was better. Nevertheless, optimal thresholds for recognition differed markedly from their originally recommended cut-offs. CONCLUSIONS: The DSM-5 standards, with new and different cognitive domains, mandate a revaluation and recalibration of existing screening instruments. Ideally, new screening instruments, which match the cognitive domains and DSM-5 standard should be developed.

Dementia in low-income and middle-income countries: Different realities mandate tailored solutions.

In a Perspective, Cleusa Ferri and K. S. Jacob discuss the assessment, recognition, and care of people living with dementia in low- and middle-income countries.

Suicide prevention in low- and middle-income countries: part perceptions, partial solutions.

Suicide, a common cause of death in many low- and middle-income countries, has often been viewed through a medical/psychiatric lens. Such perspectives medicalise social and personal distress and suggest individual and medication-based treatments. This editorial argues for the need to examine suicide from a public health perspective and suggests the need for population-based social and economic interventions.

Suicide in india: Part perceptions, partial insights, and inadequate solutions.

Suicide is a complex phenomenon, often linked to environment. Despite the identification of many social, cultural, economic and political correlates and risk factors, psychiatry continues to argue for curative solutions based on the reductionistic biomedical model, rather than support public health measures to manage the larger sociocultural, economic and political context. While psychiatry and curative medicine help many people, survival of the human body is best explained by the materialist explanation that locates the variation in health and longevity to tangible resources. There is no single, simple or straightforward solution to reducing population suicide rates; specific mental health interventions are unlikely to impact secular trends in the rates of suicide.

Nutritional status and intellectual development in children: A community-based study from rural Southern India.

BACKGROUND: There is a dearth of recent data on the relationship between nutritional status and intellectual development among children in India. To determine whether such a relationship exists, we studied children in a rural area of Tamil Nadu. METHODS: We stratified villages in Kaniyambadi block, Tamil Nadu, and recruited consecutive children who satisfied the study criteria. We assessed nutritional status by measuring height and weight and recording chronological age, and calculated indices weight-for-age, height-for-age, weight-forheight and their Z scores. We assessed intellectual development using the Indian adaptation of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale. We used a case-control framework to determine the relationship and logistic regression to adjust for common confounders. RESULTS: We recruited 114 children between the ages of 12 and 72 months. Z score means (weight-for-age -1.36; height-for-age -1.42; weight-for-height -0.78) were much less than 0 and indicate undernutrition. Z score standard deviations (weight-for-age 1.04; height-for-age 1.18; weightfor- height 1.06) were within the WHO recommended range for good quality of nutrition data suggesting reduced measurement errors and incorrect reporting of age. The frequency distributions of population Z scores suggest high undernutrition, wasting and medium stunting. A tenth of the population (9.6%) had values to suggest borderline/below average intelligence (social quotient <89). Lower height-forage, height-for-age Z score and weight-for-height Z score were significantly associated with a lower social quotient. These relationships remained statistically significant after adjusting for sex and socioeconomic status using logistic regression. CONCLUSION: Chronic undernutrition, wasting and stunting and their association with lower intellectual development demand an urgent re-assessment of national food policies and programmes.

The challenge of medical diagnosis: A primer on principles, probability, process and pitfalls.

Arriving at a medical diagnosis is a complex process, which requires clinical skill. However, the need for clear decisions has to be balanced by an acceptance of the ambiguity of many clinical situations. Complex presentations often require probabilistic inferences rather than presumed diagnostic certainty. The demands, logic and process of clinical diagnosis are highlighted. The multiple aspects of clinical reality and the impact of gold standards, nature of evidence and dichotomous disease/no disease categorization are discussed. The importance of population characteristics and context in diagnostics and prediction are emphasized. The statistics of agreement, Bayesian approach, certainty and risk, hazards and pitfalls, common errors, audit and the influence of commercialization on diagnosis are addressed. There is a need to formally teach the art and science of medicine and to transfer clinical skill rather than hope that such skills will be automatically imbibed during training.

Evaluation of a protocol-based treatment strategy for postoperative diabetes insipidus in craniopharyngioma.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative diabetes insipidus (DI) is a significant cause of morbidity in craniopharyngiomas (CP) and its effective management improves outcome. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine the efficacy of a treatment protocol in the management of early postoperative DI in CP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The quality of postoperative DI control in a prospective cohort of 26 patients treated utilizing a strict protocol (Group 1) was compared with a retrospective cohort of 34 patients (Group 2) managed without a protocol. A 6-h urine output more than 4 ml/kg/h or serum sodium (Na+) more than 145 mEq/L was diagnosed as DI. The quality of DI control was assessed by determining the incidence of serum Na+ values above 150 mEq/L or below 130 mEq/L and the incidence of wide (>10 mEq/L) intra-day fluctuations of serum Na+ levels. RESULTS: The occurrence of high and low serum Na+ levels was significantly lower in Group 1(P = 0.032). The incidence of serum Na+ exceeding 150 mEq/L on postoperative days 2 and 3 was significantly higher in Group 2 as compared with those in Group 1 (25% vs. 7.6%, P = 0.0008). Hyponatremia was more frequent in Group 2 and tended to occur on postoperative days 6, 7, and 8 (14.2% vs. 3.2%; P = 0.004). The same patients who had hypernatremia in the early part of the week later developed hyponatremia. Although the incidence of wide intra-day fluctuations (>10 mEq/L) was higher in Group 2, it did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION: A strict protocol based management results in better control of postoperative DI in CP.

Cost and burden of informal caregiving of dependent older people in a rural Indian community.

BACKGROUND: Lack of state supported care services begets the informal caregiving by family members as the mainstay of care provided to the dependent older people in many Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), including India. Little is known about the time spent on caregiving, its cost and the burden experienced by these informal caregivers. We aimed to estimate the costs of informal caregiving and to evaluate the nature as well as correlates of caregivers' burden in a rural Indian community. METHODS: We assessed 1000 people aged above 65 years, among whom 85 were dependent. We assessed their socioeconomic profiles, disability, health status and health expenditures. Their caregivers' socio-demographic profiles, mental health, and the time spent on caregiving were assessed using standard instruments. Caregiver's burden was evaluated using Zarit Burden Scale. We valued the annual informal caregiving costs using proxy good method. We employed appropriate non-parametric multivariate statistics to evaluate the correlates of caregivers' burden. RESULTS: Average time spent on informal caregiving was 38.6 (95% CI 35.3-41.9) hours/week. Estimated annual cost of informal caregiving using proxy good method was 119,210 US$ in this rural community. Mean total score of Zarit burden scale, measuring caregivers' burden, was 17.9 (95% CI 15.6-20.2). Prevalence of depression among the caregivers was 10.6% (95% CI 4.1-17.1%). Cerebrovascular disease, Parkinson's disease, higher disability, insomnia and incontinence of the dependent older people as well as the time spent on helping Activities of Daily Living and on supervision increased caregiver's burden significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Cost and burden of informal caregiving are high in this rural Indian community. Many correlates of burden, experienced by caregivers, are modifiable. We discuss potential strategies to reduce this burden in LMICs. Need for support to informal caregivers and for management of dependent older people with chronic disabling diseases by multidisciplinary community teams are highlighted.

Transsphenoidal surgery for acromegaly: predicting remission with early postoperative growth hormone assays.

BACKGROUND: Early detection of residual disease may benefit management strategies in patients undergoing transsphenoidal surgery for acromegaly. This requires establishing objective thresholds for early postoperative growth hormone (GH) assays, and incorporating these parameters into a scale for outcome prediction. METHOD: We analyzed a database containing the records of 86 patients who had undergone gross total transsphenoidal resection of GH-secreting pituitary adenomas. Early postoperative biochemical testing included a morning fasting basal GH assay on the first postoperative day (POD1) and a second GH assay following suppression with 100 g of oral glucose on the seventh postoperative day (POD7). Remission was defined as a normal IGF-1 with either a GH nadir <0.4 ng/ml following suppression with oral glucose or a basal fasting GH <1 ng/ml on follow-up dated >3 months after surgery. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves identified optimal thresholds for all biochemical parameters. Logistic regression analysis assessed the statistical significance of factors associated with cure. A point system was developed, employing regression coefficients obtained from the multivariate statistical model to quantify the impact of each predictor on cure. RESULTS: Remission was achieved in 34.6 % of patients and was associated with smaller, non-invasive tumors with lower preoperative, POD1 and POD7 GH levels. Optimal thresholds obtained from the ROC analysis suggested that lower POD1 and POD7 GH values provided good sensitivity and specificity for cure, despite modest predictive values. The model with the best ability to predict outcome included size, POD1 GH and POD7 GH levels, with a score of ≥95 demonstrating high specificity for prediction of remission. CONCLUSION: Early postoperative GH assays are highly sensitivity and specific. The scoring system that we propose provided excellent predictive value and requires further validation in larger cohorts and in different populations. The model may help guide the intensity of follow-up and enable early identification of residual disease.

Dementia assessment: A review of studies from Vellore and perspectives.

Some recent studies from Vellore, Tamil Nadu, on dementia have been published in international journals as part of international data, analysis and interpretation. They have also been published separately employing local perspectives and analysis. The different results and interpretations of these two approaches to the same data suggest the need for independent work and study of the local reality to inform national public health policies.

Sexual function in women in rural Tamil Nadu: disease, dysfunction, distress and norms.

BACKGROUND: We examined the nature, prevalence and explanatory models of sexual concerns and dysfunction among women in rural Tamil Nadu. METHODS: Married women between 18 and 65 years of age, from randomly selected villages in Kaniyambadi block, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu, were chosen by stratified sampling technique. Sexual functioning was assessed using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). The modified Short Explanatory Model Interview (SEMI) was used to assess beliefs about sexual concerns and the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) was used to screen for common mental disorders. Sociodemographic variables and other risk factors were also assessed. RESULTS: Most of the women (277; 98.2%) contacted agreed to participate in the study. The prevalence of sexual dysfunction, based on the cut-off score on the FSFI, was 64.3%. However, only a minority of women considered it a problem (4.7%), expressed dissatisfaction (5.8%) or sought medical help (2.5%). The most common explanatory models offered for sexual problems included an unhappy marriage,stress and physical problems. Factors associated with lower FSFI included older age, illiteracy, as well as medical illness and sexual and marital factors such as menopause, poor quality of marital relationship, history of physical abuse and lack of privacy. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of female sexual dysfunction needs to be nuanced and based on the broader personal and social context. Our findings argue that there is a need to use models that employ personal, local and contextual standards in assessing complex behaviours such as sexual function.

Sexual dysfunction among men in secondary care in southern India: Nature, prevalence, clinical features and explanatory models.

BACKGROUND: Sexual dysfunction, common in general medical practice, is under-recognized and inadequately managed resulting in significant morbidity and reduction in quality of life. We examined the nature, prevalence, clinical features and explanatory models of illness among men with sexual dysfunction in a general healthcare setting. METHODS: We recruited 270 consecutive men attending a general health clinic. Participants were evaluated using a structured interview. The International Index of Erectile Function-5, the Chinese Index of Premature Ejaculation-5, Short Explanatory Model Interview and the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule were used to assess sexual dysfunction, explanatory models and psychiatric morbidity. RESULTS: Premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction were reported by 43.0% and 47.8% of men, respectively. The most common perceived causes were loss of semen due to masturbation and nocturnal emission. Popular treatments were herbal remedies and resources used were traditional healers. The factors associated with erectile dysfunction were diabetes mellitus, financial stress, past history of psychiatric treatment and common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety; those associated with premature ejaculation were common mental disorders, older age and financial debt. Sexual dysfunctions and concerns were under-diagnosed by physicians when compared to the research interview. CONCLUSION: There is a need to recognize sexual problems and effectively manage them in general medical settings. The need for sex education in schools and through the mass media, to remove sexual misconceptions, cannot be under-emphasized.