International psychogeriatrics
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Change in agitation in Alzheimer's disease in the placebo arm of a nine-week controlled trial.
Placebo responses raise significant challenges for the design of clinical trials. We report changes in agitation outcomes in the placebo arm of a recent trial of citalopram for agitation in Alzheimer's disease (CitAD). ⋯ We observed significant placebo response which may be due to regression to the mean, response to a psychosocial intervention, natural course of symptoms, or nonspecific benefits of participation in a trial.
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Cognitive and functional impairment increase risk for post-coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery delirium (PCD), but how much impairment is necessary to increase PCD risk remains unclear. ⋯ MCI predicts post-operative delirium and delirium severity, but MCI definition alters these relationships. Cognitive and functional impairment independently predict post-operative delirium and delirium severity.
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Multicenter Study
Sleep and agitation in nursing home residents with and without dementia.
The prevalence of dementia in Australian nursing homes is high. A large proportion of residents express themselves through agitated behaviors, with substantial interpersonal and day-to-day variance. One factor that may increase agitation is poor sleep. The current study aimed to determine if sleep influences symptoms of agitation in nursing home residents, and whether this effect differed by dementia status. As benzodiazepines are used widely as hypnotic medication, their impact was also considered. ⋯ These results suggest that sleep could play an important role in explaining agitation, but more research is needed to explore the relationship between sleep and benzodiazepines in nursing home residents.