International journal of geriatric psychiatry
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jul 2005
ReviewDon't seize the day hospital! Recent research on the effectiveness of day hospitals for older people with mental health problems.
Day hospital (DH) care remains a core component of mental health services for older people. However, there has been an ongoing debate about the effectiveness and value for money of DHs in comparison to day centres (DC). ⋯ Recent research supports the effectiveness of day hospitals, but further studies are needed in order to provide a more robust evidence base.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jul 2005
The clinical utility of structural neuroimaging with MRI for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of dementia: a memory clinic study.
The individual contribution to the final comprehensive clinical diagnosis of neuropsychology (NP) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), respectively, was quantified in a specialized tertiary care setting to investigate the added clinical value of routine MRI. ⋯ MRI as well as neuropsychological testing improves early detection and differential diagnosis of dementia and additionally supplies clinically relevant findings. MRI carries added clinical value in the investigation of dementias.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jul 2005
The Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI): the state scale in detecting mental disorders in geriatric patients.
In geriatric psychiatry assessment scales are often used in clinical praxis in the diagnostic work-up of mental disorders. ⋯ The STAI state scale is a useful instrument for detecting a variety of mental disorders in older people. Further studies should be carried out in different populations.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jul 2005
ReviewClinical subtypes of delirium and their relevance for daily clinical practice: a systematic review.
Delirium is a disorder that besides four essential features consists of different combinations of symptoms. We reviewed the clinical classification of clusters of symptoms in two or three delirium subtypes. The possible implications of this subtype classification may be several. The investigation and exploration of clinical subtypes of delirium may provide information concerning the etiology, the pathogenesis, and the prognosis of delirium, but also may have therapeutic consequences. ⋯ We conducted a systematic review and retrieved ten clinical studies. The studies described in this review show different results, partly due to methodological problems and possibly by lack of a standard classification for delirium subtypes. According to the present literature a useful and reproducible method to classify (patterns of) symptoms in delirium subtypes seems to be the general rating of and division in to psychomotor subtypes. The Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale (MDAS) and the Dublin Delirium Assessment Scale (DAS) appear to be reliable methods, together with the new version of the Delirium Rating Scale (DRS-R-98).