[The Zurich prospective dementia study 1987-1993].
1987-1993 the Zurich prospective dementia study examined twice yearly 308 nursing-home patients: 192 with senile dementia of Alzheimer-type, 18 with Parkinsonism, 20 with Parkinson dementia and 78 controls, with the Zurich variant of the mini-mental state and rated their dementia state by CDR, activities of daily living with ADL and social behavior with an SVS-scale. At the end of the study or at death the average age was 86.2 years (range 63-103 and 159 autopsies were performed which confirmed the clinical diagnoses at least partly in 70%. Of the 62 cases with autopsies who had been studied more than two years 25 showed M.Alzheimer, 8 M, Parkinson, 7 vascular dementia and 13 a combination of those three diagnoses 40% of these Alzheimer patients exhibited no deterioration in the SVS for two years, 40% respectively 30% during one, resp. two years in the CDR, 20% resp. 40% in the ADL and 23% resp. 5% in the MMS. This demonstrates that good nursing-home care can stabilize behaviour and to a lesser extent even cognitive abilities of a large minority of patients with a pathologically confirmed progressive dementing illness.
Wettstein
A
A
Meier
A
A
Schönenberger
M P
MP
Pachmann-Wiesmeth
A
A
Gabathuler
U
U
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology