title: Classifying eating-related problems among institutionalized people with dementia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Various eating-related problems are commonly observed among people with dementia, and these problems place a huge burden on the caregivers. An appropriate classification of these problems is important in order to understand their underlying mechanisms and to develop a therapeutic approach for managing them. The aim of this study was to develop a possible classification of eating-related problems and to reveal the background factors affecting each of these problems across various conditions causing dementia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants were 208 institutionalized patients with a diagnosis of dementia. Care staff were asked to report all kinds of eating-related problems that they observed. After the nurses' responses were analyzed, 24 items relating to eating-related problems were extracted. A factor analysis of these 24 items was conducted, followed by a logistic regression analysis to investigate the independent variables that most affected each of the eating-related factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four factors were obtained. Factor 1 was overeating, factor 2 was swallowing problems, factor 3 was decrease in appetite, and factor 4 was obsession with food. Each factor was associated with different background variables, including Mini-Mental State Examination scores, Clinical Dementia Ratings, and neuropsychiatric symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that eating-related problems are common across conditions causing dementia and should be separately considered in order to understand their underlying mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo.
authors.forename: Shunichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shinagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto.
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Nishi-Harima Hospital, Hyogo.
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kashibayashi
authors.affiliation: Asakayama General Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shigenobu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto.
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D008297:Male
keywords: appetite; dementia; obsession with food; overeating; swallowing