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January 11th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda TUESDAY, Jan. 10 (HealthDay News) — People with dementia are far
more likely to be hospitalized than their peers who don’t have any
impairment in their brain function, a new study finds.
What’s more, about two-thirds of the hospitalizations that occur in
people with dementia are for potentially preventable illnesses, such as a
urinary tract infection, the study shows.
“Hospital admissions for all causes and potentially preventable
admissions were significantly higher for those with dementia,” said the
study’s lead author, Dr. Elizabeth Phelan, an associate professor in
gerontology and geriatric medicine at the University of Washington School
of Medicine, and an affiliate investigator at the Group Health Research
Institute in Seattle.
Hospitalizations are particularly difficult on people with dementia,
Phelan noted. “There have been lots of studies looking at the risks for
people with dementia in the hospital. They’re at risk for delirium, falls,
pressure ulcers; they may need to be restrained, and many never return to
their prior level of functioning after a hospitalization. If
hospitalizations could be avoided, it would be helpful for preserving
cognition and avoiding new problems,” she explained.
Results of the study are published in the Jan. 11 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study included a retrospective analysis of 3,019 people recruited
for a study called Adult Changes in Thought. All of the study volunteers
were over 65 years old and were members of the Group Health Cooperative, a
large health care delivery system. At the beginning of the study, none of
the volunteers had signs of dementia.
By the end of the study, 494 people had developed dementia. Of those,
427 (86 percent) had been hospitalized at least once, while just 59
percent of those who didn’t have dementia had been hospitalized at least
once.
The researchers found that having dementia increased the odds of being
hospitalized by 41 percent. They also found the risk of being hospitalized
for potentially preventable illnesses was 78 percent higher for people
with dementia.
The most common potentially preventable hospitalizations in people with
dementia occurred for bacterial pneumonia, congestive heart failure,
dehydration, duodenal ulcer and urinary tract infections, according to the
report.
Just three of these conditions accounted for two-thirds of the
admissions for potentially preventable illnesses: urinary tract infection,
pneumonia and congestive heart failure.
“People caring for someone with dementia have an important role to
play. They can be the eyes and ears for the care recipient. They can clue
into what seems to be typical, and when there’s any deviation from that,
they can alert the primary care provider, who can then treat proactively,”
Phelan said.
She said it would also be helpful for people to develop a long-term
care plan for people with dementia, so that caregivers would have a better
idea of what to expect. In addition, there should be planned follow-up
visits for people with dementia, though Phelan added, it isn’t clear yet
what these visits should include.
“The current paradigm for taking care of patients with dementia is
really built in such a way that we are spending inordinate amounts of
money for poor quality of life. This study shows an ounce of prevention
really is worth a pound of cure,” said Dr. Gayatri Devi, an attending
neurologist in the department of medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New
York City.
“The major causes of hospitalizations — primarily urinary tract
infections, pneumonia and congestive heart failure — are all related to
trouble with self-care. People with congestive heart failure have to take
a number of medications, and when you combine that with memory loss, it’s
harder to have them take those pills,” she pointed out.
Devi recommended simplifying medication regimens whenever possible. For
example, giving patients a pillbox, and have a caregiver fill it with the
appropriate medicine for each day of the week. She also suggested getting
a portable bidet to help prevent urinary tract infections.
In addition, Devi would like to see greater reimbursement and
availability of in-home help to care for people with dementia. She
explained that she has a patient who is paying out-of-pocket for a home
health aide to care for an elderly mother. It costs about $30,000 a year,
but the cost of just one week of being hospitalized is far more than that,
she noted. “Patients aren’t currently supported for staying at home, but
taking care of people with dementia at home is a humane thing to do,” Devi
said.
More information
Learn more about caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease from the
U.S. National Institute on Aging.
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