Abstract
Background and Purpose We investigated predictors of institutionalization in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in South Korea. Methods In total, 2,470 patients with AD aged 74.5±7.8 years (mean±standard deviation, 68.1% females) were enrolled from November 2005 to December 2013. The dates of institutionalization were identified from the public Long-Term-Care Insurance program in January 2014. We used a Cox proportional-hazards model to identify predictors for future institutionalization among characteristics at the time of diagnosis in 2,470 AD patients. A similar Cox proportional-hazards model was also used to investigate predictors among variables that reflected longitudinal changes in clinical variables before institutionalization in 816 patients who underwent follow-up testing. Results A lower Mini Mental State Examination score [hazard ratio (HR)=0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.92–0.97] and higher scores for the Clinical Dementia Rating and Neuro-Psychiatric Inventory (HR=1.01, 95% CI=1.00–1.01) at baseline were independent predictors of institutionalization. The relationship of patients with their main caregivers, presence of the apolipoprotein E e4 allele, and medication at baseline were not significantly associated with the rate of institutionalization. In models with variables that exhibited longitudinal changes, larger annual change in Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes score (HR=1.15, 95% CI=1.06–1.23) and higher medication possession ratio of antipsychotics (HR=1.89, 95% CI=1.20–2.97) predicted earlier institutionalization. Conclusions This study shows that among Korean patients with AD, lower cognitive ability, higher dementia severity, more-severe behavioral symptoms at baseline, more-rapid decline in dementia severity, and more-frequent use of antipsychotics are independent predictors of earlier institutionalization.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 191-199 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Neurology (Korea) |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was supported by grants from the Korea Healthcare Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant no. HI10C2020) and the Original Technology Research Program for Brain Science through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (grant no. 2014M3C7 A1064752).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Korean Neurological Association.
Keywords
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Institutionalization
- Korean