The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Sep 2005
Anxiety and depression in family caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease: the LASER-AD study.
There are high rates of stress, distress, and psychological illness in family caregivers of people with dementia. Female caregivers and those caring for people with neuropsychiatric symptoms are particularly at risk. The authors report on the prevalence of anxiety and depression in a sample of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease (AD) and compare the characteristics of those who did or did not have those conditions. ⋯ Clinicians should be aware of the high rates of anxiety as well as depressive symptoms in family caregivers of people with AD, especially in female caregivers. CRs and Caregivers' impaired physical health put them at risk for psychological morbidity and should be treated energetically. A poor-quality relationship between the caregiver and the CR predicts both caregiver depression and anxiety. Caregivers living with the CR are much more likely to be anxious than depressed.
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Authors performed a neuropsychological determination of which individuals in a group of community-dwelling, healthy elderly volunteers would develop cognitive decline. ⋯ Cognitive measures may be useful in community and clinical dementia screening and applicable for identifying enriched samples for trials of anti-dementia treatments.
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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jun 2005
Serum anticholinergic activity and cognition in patients with moderate-to-severe dementia.
The authors investigated the association between serum anticholinergic activity (SAA) and cognitive performance in a group of patients with moderate-to-severe dementia. ⋯ This study extends to patients with moderate-to-severe dementia the finding that higher SAA is associated with lower cognitive performance.
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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jun 2005
Neuropsychiatric symptoms and quality of life in Alzheimer disease.
Authors examined the impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients' and caregivers' quality of life (QOL) and assessed the relationship of caregiver distress to neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregiver QOL. ⋯ Neuropsychiatric symptoms of AD patients adversely affect both patient and caregiver QOL. These results suggest that identifying and treating neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD may improve both patient and caregiver QOL.
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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Mar 2005
Duloxetine for the treatment of major depressive disorder in older patients.
The efficacy and safety of duloxetine, a dual reuptake inhibitor of serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE), were evaluated in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) and associated pain symptoms in patients age 55 and older. ⋯ In these two investigations, duloxetine 60 mg/day was an efficacious treatment for MDD and also alleviated pain symptoms in depression patients age 55 and older.