Impact of Hospital Admission on Patients With Dementia

The Alzheimer's Disease Test (AD8) is a brief informant-based measure that reliably distinguishes individuals with very mild dementia from those with normal cognition [Galvin et al., 2005). The AD8 is composed of 8 items. In the initial development of the AD8, using a cutoff of 2 or greater on the AD8 to predict dementia gave the most desirable combination of sensitivity (85%) and specificity (86%).

The Barthel Index is a scale used for the assessment of performance in basic activities of daily living [Mahoney \& Barthel, 1965) that considers 10 basic functions and yields a score of 0-100. A higher score is associated with a greater likelihood of being able to live at home with a degree of independence following discharge from hospital. It was categorized according to four cutoff points, which are as follows: 75-100 as reference (no-mild disability), 50-74 (moderate disability), 25-49 (severe disability), and 0-24 (completely dependent).

Lawton and Brody score was determined as a function of patient status 2 weeks before admission, based on the patient's medical history or information supplied by a caregiver. IADL assesses ability to use the telephone, to shop, to use transport, to cook, to do housework, to take medication and to handle finances. 0 indicates total dependence and the maximum score (8) indicates total independence.

This well-established generic instrument which measures health-related QoL has five domains: mobility, self-care, pain/discomfort, usual activities, and anxiety/depression. The respondents also rate their own health today on a visual analogue scale from 100 (best imaginable health state) to 0 (worst imaginable health state). The data can be presented descriptively as a health profile, and a single index utility score can be calculated.

• The QOL-AD, a 13-item scale (range, 13 to 52, with higher scores indicating a better QOL) was used to examine AD-specific QOL (Logsdon et al., 1999). It has 13 items covering the domains of physical health, energy, mood, living situation, memory, family, marriage, friends, chores, fun, money, self, and life as a whole. These are scored on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent), with a possible total range from 13 to 52. The scale obtains separate ratings of the patient's QoL from both the patient and the caregiver, where available. These scores can be combined into a single score, weighting the person with dementia's own QoL score twice as heavily as the caregiver's. Early studies by Logsdon et al. (1999) suggest it to have good internal consistency, construct validity, and test-retest reliability. In this study, only the caregiver of the person with dementia's self-reported QoL was evaluated.

A reduced Zarit scale is useful to identify caregiver burden in dementias (with a sensitivity 98,5% and specificity of 94,7%), and it is also easy to use (Gort et al., 2010). Fields explored with the 4 items Zarit scale were overburden (items 9 and 14), irritability (item 5) and the self-care (item 2). These are scored on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 4 (most times). Higher score, more burden. (in online material)

Blood test which included serum albumin, total cholesterol, electrolytes, total lymphocyte count was made.

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was employed to measure consciousness (Teasdale \& Jennett, 1974). In this scale the normal state merits a score of 15, and as level of consciousness deteriorates, the score becomes less. (Teasdale \& Jennett, 1974).

The Braden Scale (Bergstrom et al., 1987) is a summated rated scale comprised of 6 subscales: sensory perception, mobility, activity, moisture, nutrition, and friction and shear. The 6 subscales are rated from 1 to 4, except the friction and shear subscale, which is rated from 1 to 3. Each numerical rating has a definition of patient characteristics to evaluate when assigning a score. A total of 6 to 23 points is possible.