Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
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Comparative Study
Does hospice improve quality of care for persons dying from dementia?
To examine the effectiveness of hospice services for persons dying from dementia from the perspective of bereaved family members. ⋯ Bereaved family members of people with dementia who received hospice reported higher perceptions of the quality of care and quality of dying.
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To evaluate pain severity and distribution in relation to sleep difficulty in older adults. ⋯ Widespread or other multisite pain and moderate to severe pain are strongly associated with sleep difficulty in older adults. Further research is needed to better understand the burden and consequences of pain-related sleep problems in older adults.
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To determine whether the use of medications with possible and definite anticholinergic activity increases the risk of cognitive impairment and mortality in older people and whether risk is cumulative. ⋯ The use of medications with anticholinergic activity increases the cumulative risk of cognitive impairment and mortality.
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To examine in men and women the independent associations between anxiety and depression and 1-year incident cognitive impairment and to examine the association of cognitive impairment, no dementia (CIND) and incident cognitive impairment with 1-year incident anxiety or depression. ⋯ Anxiety and depression appear to have different relationships with incident cognitive impairment according to sex and the nature of cognitive impairment. Clinicians should pay particular attention to anxiety in older adults because it may shortly be followed by incident cognitive treatment.