Elderly adults who are in mental decline and live alone are at a high risk of hurting themselves or falling ill.
Elderly adults who are in mental decline and live alone are at a high risk of hurting themselves or falling ill.
Researchers from the Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Science Center in Toronto, Canada, followed 139 older adults with deteriorating mental function for 18 months and found that more than one fifth were injured, developed infections or had other problems as a result of self-neglect or disorientation. Some became dehydrated or delirious because they failed to eat or drink, which was the most common form of self-neglect in the study. Others had infections or injuries due to poor hygiene or failure to follow medical advice.
But currently there is no way to tell which of these patients is at a high risk of hazards such as injury, leaving the stove on, wandering or falling victim to fraud.
In the study, the greatest risk was found among men and women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or cerebro-vascular diseases such as a history of stroke, as well as those who felt socially isolated or who scored particularly poorly on tests of mental function.
The findings might be helpful in identifying elderly patients who need greatest attention. The next step is to use the findings to develop a standard assessment tool that doctors can use to predict patients' risk of harm.
Although all the cognitively impaired patients in the study had primary care doctors, researchers noted that those at greatest risk of harm did not visit their doctors often.
Visits from home healthcare workers who can spot new health problems and ensure that patients are eating properly and taking their medication could help in such cases.
Researchers from the Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Science Center in Toronto, Canada, followed 139 older adults with deteriorating mental function for 18 months and found that more than one fifth were injured, developed infections or had other problems as a result of self-neglect or disorientation. Some became dehydrated or delirious because they failed to eat or drink, which was the most common form of self-neglect in the study. Others had infections or injuries due to poor hygiene or failure to follow medical advice.
But currently there is no way to tell which of these patients is at a high risk of hazards such as injury, leaving the stove on, wandering or falling victim to fraud.
In the study, the greatest risk was found among men and women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or cerebro-vascular diseases such as a history of stroke, as well as those who felt socially isolated or who scored particularly poorly on tests of mental function.
The findings might be helpful in identifying elderly patients who need greatest attention. The next step is to use the findings to develop a standard assessment tool that doctors can use to predict patients' risk of harm.
Although all the cognitively impaired patients in the study had primary care doctors, researchers noted that those at greatest risk of harm did not visit their doctors often.
Visits from home healthcare workers who can spot new health problems and ensure that patients are eating properly and taking their medication could help in such cases.
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