1. Depressive symptomatology in severe dementia in a European sample: prevalence, associated factors and prescription rate of antidepressants
- Author
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Caroline Sutcliffe, Maria Soto, Jan P.H. Hamers, Seija Arve, Kai Saks, Adelaida Zabalegui, David Challis, Clarissa Giebel, Ingalill Rahm Hallberg, Anna Renom-Guiteras, Health Services Research, RS: CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, RS: CAPHRI - R1 - Ageing and Long-Term Care, and RS: Academische Werkplaats Ouderenzorg
- Subjects
Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT ,Activities of daily living ,PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS ,Neuropsychological Tests ,MINI-MENTAL-STATE ,Depressive symptomatology ,NEUROPSYCHIATRIC INVENTORY ,CORNELL SCALE ,Risk Factors ,QUALITY-OF-LIFE ,Prevalence ,medicine ,Humans ,Dementia ,pain ,Practice Patterns, Physicians' ,Medical prescription ,Psychiatry ,OLDER-ADULTS ,ta316 ,Aged, 80 and over ,business.industry ,neuropsychiatric behavior ,QOL-AD ,Cognition ,NURSING-HOME RESIDENTS ,medicine.disease ,Comorbidity ,Antidepressive Agents ,Europe ,ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Clinical Psychology ,Severe dementia ,quality of life ,Acute Disease ,depression ,Antidepressant ,Female ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,business ,activities of daily living ,Gerontology ,Clinical psychology ,dementia - Abstract
Background:Depression is a common comorbid disorder of dementia. This study explores the prevalence of and factors associated with depressive symptomatology, and antidepressant prescription rates in severe dementia across eight European countries.Methods:In total, 414 people with severe dementia completed measures of cognition and quality of life (QoL), whilst carers completed proxy measures of activities of daily living (ADLs), depression, neuropsychiatric symptoms, QoL and comorbidity.Results:Findings indicated that 30% of the sample had depression, whilst the highest and lowest prevalence of depression was reported in Germany and Finland, respectively. Lower QoL, the presence of pain and more frequent neuropsychiatric symptoms were associated with depressive symptomatology, whilst no significant relationship between impairment of ADLs, comorbidity, and depression emerged. Spain and Estonia had the highest and lowest rates of antidepressant prescribing, respectively, whilst Germany had the highest discrepancy between depressive symptomatology and prescription.Conclusions:The study highlights variations across countries in the prevalence of depressive symptomatology in severe dementia and prescription of antidepressants. Information about factors associated with depressive symptomatology may help to better identify and manage depression.
- Published
- 2015