Maximum abdominal excursion assessment using an abdominal excursion measuring device: Reliability and validity of a new device for simple and quantitative assessment of respiratory function.

This study aimed to verify the reliability and validity of abdominal expansion and respiratory function measurements. Forty healthy adult males underwent lung capacity, effort lung capacity, respiratory muscle strength, cough strength, diaphragm ultrasound, and abdominal expansion measurements. Abdominal expansion was measured using a device developed to accurately evaluate abdominal movements and calculate maximum abdominal expansion on the ventral side (AE-max: the difference between maximal abdominal contraction at the same time as maximal-effort expiration and maximal abdominal expansion at the same time as maximal-effort inspiration). Intra- and inter-rater reliabilities of the AE-max measurements were examined, the paired t-test was used for assessing the ratios of the expansion and contraction displacement components in AE-max, and regression analysis was used to obtain equations for predicting maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) based on AE-max. Both intra- and inter-rater reliabilities were high. Criterion-related validity showed that AE-max was associated with all respiratory function parameters, especially MIP, and a high percentage of expansion displacement. Regression analysis showed that AE-max was significantly associated with MIP. Based on its association with MIP, the large proportion of expansion displacement in AE-max, and the results of the multiple regression analysis, we conclude that AE-max is a helpful measure for estimating MIP.

Enabling Personalization for Digital Cognitive Stimulation to Support Communication With People With Dementia: Pilot Intervention Study as a Prelude to AI Development.

BACKGROUND: Maintaining good communication and engagement between people with dementia and their caregivers is a major challenge in dementia care. Cognitive stimulation is a psychosocial intervention that supports communication and engagement, and several digital applications for cognitive stimulation have been developed. Personalization is an important factor for obtaining sustainable benefits, but the time and effort required to personalize and optimize applications often makes them difficult for routine use by nonspecialist caregivers and families. Although artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to support automation of the personalization process, its use is largely unexplored because of the lack of suitable data from which to develop and train machine learning models. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study aims to evaluate a digital application called Aikomi in Japanese care homes for its potential to (1) create and deliver personalized cognitive stimulation programs to promote communication and engagement between people with dementia and usual care staff and (2) capture meaningful personalized data suitable for the development of AI systems. METHODS: A modular technology platform was developed and used to create personalized programs for 15 people with dementia living in 4 residential care facilities in Japan with the cooperation of a family member or care staff. A single intervention with the program was conducted with the person with dementia together with a care staff member, and for some participants, smell stimulation was provided using selected smell sticks in conjunction with the digital program. All sessions were recorded using a video camera, and the combined personalized data obtained by the platform were analyzed. RESULTS: Most people with dementia (10/15, 67%) showed high levels of engagement (>40 on Engagement of a Person with Dementia Scale), and there were no incidences of negative reactions toward the programs. Care staff reported that some participants showed extended concentration and spontaneous communication while using Aikomi, which was not their usual behavior. Smell stimulation promoted engagement for some participants even when they were unable to identify the smell. No changes in well-being were observed following the intervention according to the Mental Function Impairment Scale. The level of response to each type of content in the stimulation program varied greatly according to the person with dementia, and personalized data captured by the Aikomi platform enabled understanding of correlations between stimulation content and responses for each participant. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the Aikomi digital application is acceptable for use by persons with dementia and care staff and may have the potential to promote communication and engagement. The platform captures personalized data, which can provide suitable input for machine learning. Further investigation of Aikomi will be conducted to develop AI systems and create personalized digital cognitive stimulation applications that can be easily used by nonspecialist caregivers.

Tooth Loss as a Predictor of Long-Term Care Requirements in the Elderly: A Study in Kobe City, Japan.

INTRODUCTION: The Kobe project, which utilizes prospective data from the national health insurance system, focuses on early detection and preventive strategies through the Frail Kenshin health check-up program. Previous research has underscored the correlation between tooth loss and the decline in physical and cognitive functions. In this study, using Kobe project data, we examined the link between remaining teeth and long-term care needs in individuals aged 64-65 years, with primary and secondary objectives involving various health parameters and quality of life. METHODS: We analyzed baseline data from a prospective study conducted alongside the Frail Check program for generally healthy individuals aged 64-65 years to examine the relationship between the number of remaining teeth and various health indicators. This study focused on citizens aged 64-65 years to identify those at risk of needing long-term care by the age of 65 years. RESULTS: Data from 1,530 participants were obtained, excluding eight individuals for specific reasons. At the end of the follow-up period, 41 (2.7%) individuals required support and 15 (1.0%) needed long-term care alone. The data revealed a significant association between the number of remaining teeth and the need for long-term care or support, as demonstrated by the Cochran-Armitage trend test (p<0.001). Although trends were noted for nutrition and total Cognitive Functional Instrument Self scores, they did not reach statistical significance. Additionally, a decrease in the number of remaining teeth was significantly associated with worse European Quality of Life Five Dimensions (EQ-5D-5L) visual analog scale scores, mobility, and regular activities (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Tooth loss indicates the potential long-term care needs of older adults. Monitoring oral health is crucial for addressing care requirements.

The Japan-Multimodal Intervention Trial for Prevention of Dementia PRIME Tamba (J-MINT PRIME Tamba): Study protocol of a randomised controlled multi-domain intervention trial.

The Japan-Multimodal Intervention Trial for Prevention of Dementia PRIME Tamba (J-MINT PRIME Tamba) is a randomised controlled trial to prevent cognitive decline in community-dwelling cognitively ordinary older people at risk of dementia. Participants are aged 65-85 years living in a rural area in Japan, aware of very mild decline in cognitive function or abilities of activities of daily living, have at least one vascular risk (e.g. hypertension or diabetes), and have a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 24 or higher. Approximately 200 participants are randomly divided into two groups, with the intervention group receiving a multi-modal intervention, including lifestyle-related disease management, physical exercise, cognitive training, and nutritional counselling, over 18 months. The primary outcome is change in the composite score of seven neuropsychological tests, including the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test, Logical Memory I and II subsets of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, and Digit Symbol Substitution Test of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. In addition, changes in a wide range of other parameters such as physical function, blood test results, sleep, and frailty are also analysed as secondary outcomes. We believe that this study's results will contribute significantly to the development of dementia prevention measures in Japan. Clinical trial registration number: UMIN000041938.

Implication of using cognitive function-related simple questions to stratify the risk of long-term care need: population-based prospective study in Kobe, Japan.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated how cognitive function-related simple questions can be used to identify older individuals who are at risk of needing long-term care. METHODS: This cohort study was conducted in Kobe city, Japan. In 2015, the municipal office distributed the Kihon Checklist by post, a 25-item questionnaire including three cognitive function-related questions (questions 18, 19, 20) to citizens aged ≥ 70 years. Need certification is routinely done by Kobe city as part of the national Long-Term Care Insurance Act. The answers to the 2015 questionnaire were merged with need certification data between the questionnaire delivery and the end of December 2019. RESULTS: Of the 77,877 citizens (age: 72.9 ± 2.7 years) who received the questionnaire, 50,154 responded (response rate: 64.4%). During the study period, the cumulative incidence of the need for long-term care was higher in those who did not respond than in those who did (12.5% vs 8.4%; P < 0.001). Among those who responded, the incidence of the need for long-term care was progressively greater as the number of negative answers to cognitive function-related questions increased (5.0%, 8.4%, 15.7% and 30.2% at 4 years' follow-up, for respondents with, respectively, 0, 1, 2 and 3 negative answers). Similarly, when the need certification for long-term care was confined to that accompanied by dementia, the incidence also rose as the number of negative responses to the cognitive function-related questions increased (3.4%, 6.5%, 13.7% and 27.9% for respondents with, respectively, 0, 1, 2 and 3 negative answers). Using multivariate Cox regression analysis, all three cognitive function-related questions were predictive of the need for long-term care, and question 18 (about memory loss) had the highest hazard ratio for predicting the need for long-term care accompanied by dementia. CONCLUSIONS: Use of cognitive function-related simple questions may help identify older adults at risk for needing long-term care, suggesting their potential value for use in administrative and policy approaches aimed at reducing the societal burden of dementia.

The effect of a multimodal dementia prevention program involving community-dwelling elderly.

BACKGROUND: With the rapid increase in the average age of society, the number of people with dementia has increased in Japan. Thus, the need to prevent dementia is greater, and prevention programs have been implemented throughout Japan. This study aims to evaluate both the short-term and the long-term effects of a dementia prevention program on physical and cognitive function in community-dwelling elderly. METHODS: Cognitive and physical assessments were carried out at baseline for a sample including 57 elderly participants. The participants underwent an intensive training program lasting for 2 h per week for 10 days. After the last period of training, the assessment performed was reapplied. The outcome measures used to establish effectiveness were a Mini-Mental State Examination, Five Cognitive Tests, a Cognitive Function Instrument, a Timed Up & Go Test, a grip strength evaluation, a Geriatric Depression Scale, an EQ-5D and a Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly. Participants were then divided randomly into two groups: a booster group and a non-booster group. The booster group received booster training every 3 months after the intensive training period, whereas the non-booster group did not. Both groups were monitored every 6 months for approximately two and a half years after baseline assessment. RESULTS: The Mini-Mental State Examination, the subtests of the Five Cognitive Tests (attention, memory, language and reasoning) and the Timed Up & Go Test revealed a significant improvement after intensive training. For most of the outcome measures, the booster training showed no additional significant improvements. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, intensive training had a short-term positive effect. Although the effect of the booster training was not clear, the functions of the elderly participants were found to be maintained during a follow-up assessment. The study findings recommend conducting intensive training for the community-dwelling elderly without follow-up training.

Kobe project for the exploration of newer strategies to reduce the social burden of dementia: a study protocol of cohort and intervention studies.

INTRODUCTION: This research project addresses the lack of screening tools for the early detection of high-risk individuals for long-term care, through four individual studies.Study 1 investigates the predictive ability of the 'Kihon Check List', study 2 the 'Cognitive Function instrument' and EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) and study 3 the 'Cognitive Function instrument' and EQ-5D as well as the 'Frail Kenshin' health check-up, for incident long-term care certification over a follow-up period of up to 4 years. This is the first large prospective study to evaluate the predictive ability of these tools for the outcome measure long-term care certification. The last subsection of this project study four aims to explore a mixed methods intervention for delaying the need for long-term care. This section is purely exploratory, looking for clues for further studies. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Baseline data have been collected through local government programs, as well as through postal self-reported questionnaires. The primary outcome variable for all studies is long-term care certification data. Statistical analysis will be carried out using Kaplan-Meier, Multiple Cox regression as well as logistic regression. CONCLUSION: This project hopes to identify tools effective in predicting long-term care need. This will enable identification of citizens that are of higher risk for long-term care in the near future. This subset of high-risk individuals can in the future be addressed for extra support/intervention. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: All studies have been approved by respective institutional ethical committees and the WHO ethical committee ERC.0002899. In addition, all studies conform to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki and are conducted in accordance with Japan's 'Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects'. All findings will be disseminated at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: UMIN000023283.

Admission of people with dementia to psychiatric hospitals in Japan: factors that can shorten their hospitalizations.

AIM: People exhibiting serious behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia are usually voluntarily or involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals for treatment. In Japan, the average hospital stay for individuals with dementia is about 2 years. Ideally, individuals should be discharged once their symptoms have subsided. However, we see cases in Japan where individuals remain institutionalized long after behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia are no longer apparent. This study will attempt to identify factors contributing to shorter stays in psychiatric hospitals for dementia patients. METHODS: Questionnaires consisting of 17 items were mailed to 121 psychiatric hospitals with dementia treatment wards in western Japan. RESULTS: Out of 121 hospitals that received the questionnaires, 45 hospitals returned them. The total number of new patient admissions at all 45 hospitals during the month of August 2014 was 1428, including 384 dementia patients (26.9%). The average length of stay in the dementia wards in August 2014 was 482.7 days. Our findings revealed that the rate of discharge after 2 months was 35.4% for the dementia wards. In addition, we found that the average stay in hospitals charging or planning to charge the rehabilitation fee to dementia patients was significantly shorter than in hospitals not charging the rehabilitation fee. CONCLUSION: In Japan, dementia patients account for over 25% of new admissions to psychiatric hospitals with dementia wards. The average length of stay in a psychiatric hospital dementia ward is more than 1 year. A discharge after fewer than 2 months is exceedingly rare for those in a dementia ward compared with dementia patients in other wards. If institutions focus on rehabilitation, it may be possible to shorten the stay of dementia patients in psychiatric hospitals.

Caregiver burden and fatigue in caregivers of people with dementia: Measuring human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and -7 DNA levels in saliva.

PURPOSE: We examined chronic fatigue, which has not been investigated in detail, in family caregivers for people with dementia. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Forty-four community-dwelling family caregivers (the caregiver group: CG) and 50 elderly control participants (the non-caregiver group: NCG) participated in this study. We measured salivary human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and -7 DNA levels and the Chalder fatigue scale (CFS) to assess levels of fatigue; we also measured the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly, Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview, Mini-Mental State Examination, Assessment of Motor and Process Skills, and Dementia Behavior Disturbance Scale. RESULTS: For CG, the salivary HHV-6 DNA levels and CFS scores were significantly higher than those in NCG. The salivary HHV-6 DNA levels in CG were significantly correlated with depressive symptoms, the cognitive function of the patients, and the activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living (ADL/IADL) abilities of the patients. The CFS scores in CG significantly correlated with caregiver burden, depression symptoms, leisure physical activity, the number of other family caregivers, and the hours spent for caregiving per week, as well as with behavior disturbances and ADL/IADL abilities. CONCLUSIONS: The salivary HHV-6 DNA levels may be added as a new biomarker for caregiver exhaustion. We concluded that fatigue assessments should be performed by not only a questionnaire, such as the CFS, but also by a biomarker search, such as HHV-6, when estimating the caregiver burden for family caregivers of people with dementia.