Neuropsychiatric Symptoms Predict Faster Cognitive Decline in Dementia Collaborative Care Than Antipsychotic Use.

Background: To compare short-term cognitive outcomes among groups with and without neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) or antipsychotic prescription and to determine which disease status or treatment modality is associated with relatively faster cognitive decline. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a prospective cohort of patients diagnosed with dementia and mild cognitive impairment. All participants were evaluated using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) during their initial clinical assessments and at the annual follow-up. The dependent variable was annual delta CASI. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to assess the degree of association between NPS, antipsychotic use, and cognitive decline after adjusting for confounding factors. Neuropsychiatric symptoms were examined individually to determine their predictive value for cognitive decline. Results: A total of 407 (N = 407) patients were included in the study. NPSs, rather than antipsychotic use, led to faster cognitive decline. A higher baseline NPI total score predicted a significantly faster decline in CASI scores (1-year delta CASI = -0.22, 95% CI = -0.38~ -0.05, p = 0.010). Specific items (delusions, agitation, depression, anxiety, euphoria, and apathy) in the NPS significantly increased cognitive decline. Conclusion: Certain neuropsychiatric symptoms, rather than antipsychotic use, lead to faster cognitive decline in a dementia collaborative care model. Checking for and providing appropriate interventions for NPS in people with dementia and their caregivers are highlighted.

Evaluation of a critical appraisal program for clinical nurses: a controlled before-and-after study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based practice is important to.clinical health care professionals. Clinical nurses can make informed decisions by applying the best evidence to their care. However, standardized curricula on evidence-based medicine are lacking in nursing education programs. This study evaluated a critical appraisal education program and assessed its value in increasing nurses' knowledge of critical appraisal and confidence in their critical appraisal skills. METHODS: A controlled before-and-after study design was used. The education program integrated lectures,practice, and group discussion. A questionnaire was used to evaluate participants' knowledge and confidence in critical appraisal pre- and postintervention. RESULTS: Participants' knowledge and confidence in critical appraisal improved significantly postintervention(both p < .001 ). CONCLUSION: A 1-day, small group discussion education program can effectively improve nurses' knowledge and confidence in critical appraisal. Educators and administrators may replicate this education program to improve the quality of nursing care

High dosage of aripiprazole-induced dysphagia.

BACKGROUND: Dysphagia as a main manifestation of extrapyramidal symptoms is an uncommon adverse effect of second-generation antipsychotics. METHOD: We present a 54-year-old drug-naïve patient with schizophrenia, who developed dysphagia with aripiprazole 30 mg daily treatment. RESULTS: This is the first case report on aripiprazole-induced dysphagia. We discuss the risk factors that led to dysphagia in this case. CONCLUSION: Aripiprazole-induced dysphagia is rare, and it is important to be aware that it does occur with high-dosage treatment.

Prediction of Institutionalization for Patients With Dementia in Taiwan According to Condition at Entry to Dementia Collaborative Care.

This study aimed to examine the institutionalization rate in patients with dementia in Taiwan, identify the predictors of institutionalization, and conduct a mediation analysis of caregiver burden between neuropsychiatric symptoms and institutionalization. We analyzed data from a retrospective cohort registered in dementia collaborative care (N = 518). The analyses applied univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression with Firth's penalized likelihood to assess the relationship between each predictor at entry and institutionalization for survival analysis. Thirty (5.8%) patients were censored due to institutionalization after a median follow-up of one-and-a-half years. Neuropsychiatric symptoms, loss of walking ability, and living alone predicted institutionalization. Caregiver burden may partially mediate the effects of neuropsychiatric symptoms and institutionalization. High caregiver burden due to presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms may partially contribute to institutionalization among people living with dementia in Taiwan. However, proper management of neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregiver empowerment may ameliorate institutionalization risk.

Acute Hepatitis Due to Agomelatine Use in Elderly Women with Depression: Case Series.

Although agomelatine may be associated with an increased risk of hepatotoxicity, the incidence rate of acute hepatitis seemed divergent between clinical trials and daily practice. Whether aging or gender is a risk factor in developing hepatotoxicity due to agomelatine is not clear. We present 3 older female cases with acute hepatitis occurring due to highly probable idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury caused by agomelatine. From these cases, regular surveillance on liver function in the older women taking antidepressants would be of benefits.

Using the Apriori Algorithm to Explore Caregivers' Depression by the Combination of the Patients with Dementia and Their Caregivers.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the caring scenarios that result in severe depression in caregivers caring for dementia patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 1111 dementia patients and their caregivers in Taiwan from October 2015 to January 2020 was conducted. Gender, age, type of dementia, clinical dementia rating, walking ability, mood symptoms, behavioral symptoms, and psychological symptoms were the variables from the dementia patients. Age, relation to the patient, employment, type of primary care, frequency of care, mood symptoms, and the score from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale were the variables from the caregivers. A comprehensive viewpoint of both dementia patients and their caregivers was evaluated by the Apriori algorithm to find the attributes resulting in different caregiving depressions. RESULTS: Forty-seven rules were found with 18 rules of mild depressive symptomatology, 17 rules of moderate depressive symptomatology, and 12 rules of severe depressive symptomatology. A total of 7 general rules were summarized to be the severe depressive symptomatology. The results showed that an unemployed or retired caregiver with the mood symptoms such as helplessness, anger, emotional liability, or anxiety who took care of AD patients or AD patients with a moderate severity would have severe depression. Increased care frequencies (≥6 days per week) and multiple mood problems from caregivers result in severe depression. The composition of adult children, patients' aggression, and caregivers' helplessness as well as the combinations of male patients aged 75-84 years with the caregiver's mood of helplessness or nervousness and hopelessness were highly associated with severe depression. CONCLUSION: For those caring for AD patients, severe depression was associated with the combination of different parameters to constitute each of these seven scenarios. Unlike previous studies which often evaluated one or two variables related to caregiver's depression, this study provided a more comprehensive viewpoint that enabled the collaborative team to efficiently identify and manage different scenarios by summarizing the rules of caregivers with severe depression from a systematic viewpoint.

Plasma homocysteine levels and major depressive disorders in Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND: The main aim of this study was to examine the symptomatology of major depression in Alzheimer disease (AD) and its relationship with plasma homocysteine level. METHODS: Eighty-three patients with AD were enrolled for clinical assessments and examination of fasting plasma homocysteine. Diagnosis of major depression was made, and the severity of the depression was assessed. RESULTS: The moderate dementia patients presented with more common behavioral disturbances related to major depression than mild dementia patients. Major depression in patients with moderate AD was associated with higher plasma homocysteine levels. Furthermore, a high plasma homocysteine level was positively associated with behavioral disturbance among study participants with major depression. CONCLUSION: More behavioral disturbance associated with major depression occurred as the dementia progressed. Patients with a higher level of plasma homocysteine presented with a higher behavioral disturbance symptomatology. This finding may account for the relationship between elevated homocysteine levels and depression only in patients with moderate AD.

The functionality and economic costs of outpatients with schizophrenia in Taiwan.

The aims of this study were to investigate the economic costs of outpatients with schizophrenia in Taiwan, and to survey factors that influence the costs. The direct costs were defined as the costs associated with psychiatric services and other medical treatment. The indirect costs were estimated using the Human Capital Method. Patients' characteristics, including sex, age, duration of education, duration of illness, frequency of hospitalization, type of antipsychotic medication, severity of extrapyramidal side effects caused by antipsychotic medication, and global functions, were used to estimate the costs. The average annual total cost was approximately US$16,576 per patient. The direct and indirect costs were 13% and 87% of the total costs, respectively. Among the direct costs, folk therapy ranked third, just behind prescription drugs and acute ward hospitalization. The productivity loss of both the patients and their caregivers was the major component of the indirect costs. The patient's age and global functions had a significantly negative relationship with the direct costs. The severity of extrapyramidal side effects, type of antipsychotic medication, and the patient's illness duration correlated positively with the indirect costs, while the patient's global function correlated negatively with the indirect costs. Overall, the indirect costs of treating schizophrenia were higher than the direct costs. Improving patients' functionality and decreasing caregivers' burden are essential to reducing costs.

[An experience promoting evidence-based nursing at a medical center in central Taiwan].

In the 21st Century, evidence-based nursing (EBN) may provide a mechanism by which nurses can manage the explosion in published information in the literature, introduce new techniques, effectively control healthcare costs, and increase attention on nursing quality and health outcomes. The objective of this paper is to share the experience implementing evidence-based nursing. We had applied strategies to implement evidence-based nursing care in our hospital since 2002. Over a more than three-year period (January 2002 to October 2005), we held 46 basic course sessions (around 1,840 attendees) and 58 advanced course sessions (around 500 attendees). There are 445 clinical questions with answered reports, Most questions related to foley care, central vein care and peripheral intravenous injection. Our nursing department revised three guidelines on nursing care skills related to suction and foley and nasal-gastric feeding to meet local conditions. Based on our subjective experience, promotion and implementation of EBN is feasible and helpful to update knowledge and decrease variance in clinical nursing care. However, further outcome research is needed in the future in order to obtain more objective evidence.

Association between caregiver depression and individual behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in Taiwanese patients.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to investigate caregiver depression associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms in Taiwanese people. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used in this study. Two hundred seventy-six pairs of patients with dementia and their caregivers who visited the memory clinic of a general hospital from July 2001 to October 2008 were recruited. Caregiver depression was evaluated with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D); the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia were evaluated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Demographic data of the patients and caregivers, including cognitive functions and clinical dementia ratings, were collected. In addition to descriptive statistics, we examined the relationship between each parameter and caregiver depression using Pearson correlation, independent t-test, or analysis of variance. RESULTS: The results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the total Neuropsychiatric Inventory score and CES-D score (r = 0.345, P < 0.001) in the bivariate analyses. For individual behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, agitation/aggression, anxiety, nighttime behavior disturbances, irritability/lability, and hallucinations were the five leading symptoms significantly associated with caregiver depression (CES-D). DISCUSSION: Carefully managing these symptoms is likely to reduce depression in dementia caregivers.

Severity and prevalence of behavioral and psychological symptoms among patients of different dementia stages in Taiwan

Abstract Background To better understand the trends of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) over the disease progression is important to provide psychoeducation for dementia caregivers. Objective This study examined the severity and occurrence of BPSD across the various degrees of the disease. Methods This study was a cross-sectional design. Patients (N = 276) who had dementia from July 2001 to October 2008 were surveyed and assessed for dementia stage, using the clinical dementia rating scale (CDR). BPSD was evaluated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). We examined the differences between the severities and occurrence of the individual's BPSD among various CDR stages with the Kruskal-Wallis test and Chi-square test. Results Delusion (p = 0.01), agitation/aggression (p = 0.033), apathy/indifference (p = 0.009), aberrant motor behavior (p < 0.001), nighttime behavior disturbances (p < 0.001), and eating abnormalities (p = 0.001) were significantly different among stages of dementia. The severity of BPSD became exacerbated over the course of the disease, and was highest in moderate (CDR = 2) or severe (CDR = 3) dementia. The occurrence of BPSD was highest when the CDR equaled 2 (97.5%). Discussion The association of global (or certain) BPSD, across different stages of dementia, is a non-linear relationship. These findings suggest the importance of taking into account clinical dementia stage for managing BPSD.

Caregiver burden associated with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in Taiwanese elderly.

The purpose of this study was to investigate caregiver burden associated with BPSD in Taiwanese people. The study had a cross-sectional design. Eighty-eight patients with dementia and 88 caregivers who visited the memory clinic of a medical center from January 2007 to December 2007 were recruited. The BPSD were assessed using the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI); caregiver burden was evaluated using the NPI caregiver distress scale (NPI-D). Demographic data on the patients and caregivers along with patients' cognitive functions and clinical dementia ratings were collected. In addition to descriptive statistics, we analyzed the relationship between each parameter and caregiver burden using binary correlation. The results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the total NPI-D score and the total NPI score (r=0.898, p<0.001). For individual BPSD, delusions had the highest mean NPI-D score, followed by agitation/aggression, anxiety, irritability/lability, and dysphoria/depression. The symptom frequency of anxiety, delusions, and agitation/aggression showed a statistically significant positive correlation with caregiver's NPI-D score. These findings suggest that improvement of treatments for delusions, agitation/aggression, anxiety, irritability/lability, and dysphoria/depression among dementia patients may reduce caregiver burden.

Closed-loop seizure control on epileptic rat models.

In this paper numerous alternative treatments in addition to pharmacological therapy are proposed for their use in epileptic patients. Epileptic animal models can play a crucial role in the performance evaluation of new therapeutic techniques. The objective of this research is to first develop various epileptic rat models; second, develop a portable wireless closed-loop seizure controller including on-line seizure detection and real-time electrical stimulation for seizure elimination; and third, apply the developed seizure controller to the animal models to perform on-line seizure elimination. The closed-loop seizure controller was applied to three Long-Evans rats with spontaneous spike-wave discharges (non-convulsive) and three Long-Evans rats with epileptiform activities induced by pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) injection (convulsive) for evaluation. The seizure detection accuracy is greater than 92% (up to 99%), and averaged seizure detection latency is less than 0.6 s for both spontaneous non-convulsive and PTZ-induced convulsive seizures. The average false stimulation rate is 3.1%. Near 30% of PTZ-induced convulsive seizures need more than two times of 0.5 s electrical stimulation for suppression and 90% of the non-convulsive seizures can be suppressed by only one 0.5 s electrical stimulation.

A closed-loop brain computer interface for real-time seizure detection and control.

The worldwide prevalence of epilepsy is approximately 1%, and 25% of epilepsy patients cannot be treated sufficiently by available therapies. Brain stimulation with closed-loop seizure control has recently been proposed as an innovative and effective alternative. In this paper, a portable closed-loop brain computer interface for seizure control was developed and shown with several aspects of advantages, including high seizure detection rate (92-99% during wake-sleep states), low false detection rate (1.2-2.5%), and small size. The seizure detection and electrical stimulation latency was not greater than 0.6 s after seizure onset. A wireless communication feature also provided flexibility for subjects freeing from the hassle of wires. Experimental data from freely moving rats supported the functional possibility of a real-time closed-loop seizure controller.

Effects of amisulpride on the cognitive function of patients with schizophrenia who switched from risperidone.

Objectives. The aims of this 13-week study were to examine the efficacy and safety of amisulpride, and effects on cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia after they switched from risperidone. Methods. Twenty-three patients with schizophrenia whose antipsychotic was switched from risperidone to amisulpride were recruited. The efficacy, safety, and cognitive function were assessed. Results. Significant improvements were noted in the PANSS, CGI-S, and MADRS. The prolactin level, but not any of the remaining laboratory variables, increased significantly. The cognitive function improved significantly, particularly in memory subtests. Conclusions. Switching antipsychotic from risperidone to amisulpride in schizophrenia might have significantly improved not only the efficacy, but also various domains of cognitive function. However, hyperprolactinemia existed and was sometimes even worse.

Combination antipsychotic therapy in psychiatric outpatient clinics in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to survey the use of combination antipsychotic therapy (CAT) in the psychiatric outpatient clinic of a general hospital. METHODS: Patients who received at least 2 antipsychotics in the psychiatric outpatient clinic of a general hospital in 1 month (August 1-31, 2003) were identified, and their retrospective chart review was performed. Using a questionnaire, we surveyed the clinicians on why 2 antipsychotics were prescribed, why long-term CAT was used, and whether the problems were solved by CAT. RESULTS: We studied 957 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders in 1 month. A total of 119 patients (12%) were prescribed at least 2 antipsychotics. Among these 119 patients, 91 (76%) were prescribed 2 types of first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs), and 15 patients (16%) were prescribed a second-generation antipsychotic medication and a low-dose FGA medication. The clinicians' main reasons for CAT were to treat insomnia (84%) and psychotic symptoms (83%). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study revealed that 12% of the patients received CAT in the clinical practice. Most patients were prescribed 2 FGAs. The clinicians' reasons for prescribing CAT in Taiwan were to treat insomnia and psychotic symptoms.

The psychological well-being and associated factors of caregivers of outpatients with schizophrenia in Taiwan.

The purpose of this study attempted to understand the psychological well-being of caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia and factors affecting the caregivers' psychological well-being. More specifically, quality of life and psychiatric morbidity were used to represent the psychological well-being. Personal interviews using questionnaires were administrated to 57 caregivers. Data regarding knowledge of schizophrenia, perceived causes of schizophrenia, quality of life and psychiatric morbidity was collected. Psychiatrists assessed the symptoms severity of the schizophrenic patients. Compared with the controls, the psychological well-being of caregivers of patients with schizophrenia was poorer. There was a significant association between the positive symptoms score and the psychological well-being of caregivers. Life quality and psychiatric morbidity were affected by caregivers' knowledge of schizophrenia and beliefs about the cause of schizophrenia. Health care providers should consider the patients and their caregivers as a whole and provide psychoeducaiton to reduce the negative psychological impact of caregivers.

Correlation between scores on Continuous Performance Test and plasma concentration for schizophrenic patients on risperidone.

The purpose of the present paper was to evaluate the relationship between plasma antipsychotics concentration and cognitive task performance. This may provide valuable information for rational dosage titration. Literature on the relationship between plasma risperidone (RIS) concentration and performance on the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) remains scarce. Ten patients (four male, six female) were given RIS for more than 1 year. Steady-state plasma concentrations of the parent drug RIS and its active metabolite, 9-hydroxy-risperidone (9-OH-RIS), were measured using specific liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay. Psychopathology, side-effects of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) and CPT were also assessed. A negative correlation was found between CPT performance and the plasma RIS, 9-OH-RIS and its active moiety (RIS + 9-OH-RIS) concentrations. Both RIS and 9-OH-RIS have an impact on the CPT performance of schizophrenic patients. Optimal active moiety plasma concentration for best cognitive performance needs further study.

Correlation between performance on the Continuous Performance Test and economic costs in patients with schizophrenia.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether a relationship existed between the performance on the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and the economic costs of schizophrenic patients in Taiwan. Forty-six schizophrenic patients and their caregivers were enrolled. The CPT is a vigilance task requiring the monitoring of rapid information processing and the detection of briefly presented target stimuli. Each patients undertook two CPT sections: the unmasked task and the masked task. Economic Cost Questionnaires were used for assessing the direct and indirect costs of the illness. The patients' performance on the masked version of the CPT correlated significantly with the indirect costs, although there was no significant relationship between CPT scores and direct costs. Schizophrenic patients with more severely impaired sustained attention, particularly as measured by CPT, may incur higher indirect costs.