2006/01/18 by S Banerjee, Sube Banerjee · 354 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Anxiety #Clinical Dementia Rating #Clinical psychology #Cognition #Cognitive impairment #Dementia #Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research #Disease #Disinhibition #Geriatric Care and Nursing Homes #Gerontology #Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving #Irritability #Medicine #Mental health #Multivariate analysis #Psychiatry #Psychology #Quality of life (healthcare)
paper · open access · doi:10.1136/jnnp.2005.072983
published in Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 77(2), 146-148 (BMJ)
openalex publication_date 2006/01/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
OBJECTIVES: To explore the extent to which commonly used measures of specific outcomes in dementia are an appropriate proxy for quality of life in dementia. METHODS: This was a cross sectional study set in communities in London and Nottingham, comprising 101 people with dementia and their 99 main family caregivers. The main outcome measures were health related quality of life in dementia (measured by the DEMQOL-Proxy), cognition (Mini Mental State Examination), functional impairment (Barthel Index), behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia (Neuropsychiatric Inventory; NPI), and carer mental health (General Health Questionnaire). RESULTS: On univariate analysis, decreased quality of life was statistically significantly correlated with higher levels of behavioural and psychological disturbance (NPI total score and its agitation, depression, anxiety, disinhibition, and irritability subscales); younger age of the person with dementia; and poorer mental health of the carer. Quality of life was not statistically significantly associated with cognition or carer age. In a multivariate model, psychological and behavioural disturbance and patient age remained statistically significantly associated with quality of life. Carer mental health was no longer statistically significantly associated, and cognition and functional limitation remained statistically insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that quality of life in dementia is complex, and that simple proxy substitutions of discrete measures such as cognition or function are likely to miss important factors.