Prevalence and characteristics of neuropsychiatric symptoms, quality of life and psychotropics in people with acquired brain injury in long‐term care

Establishing the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), quality of life and psychotropic drug use in people aged ≤65 years with acquired brain injury in nursing homes.Cross-sectional, observational study among patients aged 18-≤65 years with acquired brain injury admitted to special care units in Dutch nursing homes.According to the Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects in January 2017 this study did not require ethics approval. Nursing homes will be recruited through the national acquired brain injury expertise network for patients with severe brain injury, the regional brain injury teams and by searching the internet. Patient characteristics will be collected through digital questionnaires. Neuropsychiatric symptoms will be assessed with the NeuroPsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home version, the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory and the St. Andrews Sexual Behaviour Assessment; cognition with the Mini-Mental State Examination, quality of life with the Quality of Life after Brain Injury Overall Scale and activities of daily living with the Disability Rating Scale. Medication will be retrieved from the electronic prescription system. Data collection commenced in 2017 and will be followed by data analysis in 2019. Reporting will be completed in 2020.Little is known about NPS among patients with acquired brain injury in nursing homes. In patients up to the age of 65 years, only six studies were found on prevalence rates of NPS.Patients with severe acquired brain injury experience lifelong consequences, that have a high impact on them and their environment. Although there is increasing attention for the survival of this vulnerable group of patients, it is also important to enlarge awareness on long-term consequences, specifically the NPS, quality of life and psychotropic drug use in acquired brain injury. Insight into the magnitude of these issues is necessary to achieve appropriate care for these patients.目的: 确定神经精神病症状的患病率(NPS)、住在疗养院的年龄≤65 岁的脑损伤老年人的生活质量和精神药物。 设计: 针对疗养院内年龄在18--≤65 岁的特殊护理病房的脑损伤病人的横段截面观察性研究。 方法: 根据人体研究委员会在2017年一月的报告,本研究不需要道德批准。疗养院将通过数据问卷调查收集病人的特征。神经疾病将根据神经精神病学目录-疗养院版本、Cohen-Mansfield精神激动目录和St. Andrews的性行为评估评估神经精神疾病、认识精神状态检查量表脑损伤后总体评分和残疾评定量表。电子处方系统为开具药物。我们在2017年开始数据收集,并且将在2019 年进行数据分析,2020年完成报告。 讨论: 针对疗养院中脑损伤病人患有神经精神疾病的研究甚少。仅有6项研究针对的是65岁老年人的神经精神疾病患病率。 影响: 严重脑损伤可能会影响病人的一生,不仅对其自身也会其周围环境产生严重的后果。尽管有越来越多的人关注弱势病人群体的生存问题。但也有必要提高其对长期后果的认识,尤其是NPS、生活质量、对后天脑损伤的神经精神药物治疗。深入了解这些疾病的也是为病人提供正确治疗所必要的步骤。.