Factors predicting psychosocial outcomes in dementia: The effect of diagnosis and neuropsychiatric symptoms

There is little knowledge on the longitudinal course of patients with dementia. Although there is evidence of wide inter-individual variations in progression and outcome of patients with dementia, few studies have explored longitudinally factors that pred ict key prognostic outcome measures. This is particularly so for patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), one of the most common and troublesome forms of dementia. The overall main objective of this project is to identify clinical factors that can predict the course on key psychosocial outcomes in patients recently diagnosed with mild dementia. The primary outcome measures are patients' quality of life, carer burden, and use of health resources (home-based care and nursing home admission). An un selected cohort has been recruited and will be followed prospectively with annual assessments. Standardised and validated clinical instruments were employed to ensure diagnostic accuracy and reliable clinical descriptions. Particular emphasis was made to ensure that patients with DLB were detected. In addition to dementia diagnosis and severity of cognitive and functional impairment, the predictive effect of psychiatric symptoms will be estimated. Multivariate and repeated measurement statistics will be e mployed to adjust for potential confounders and taking into account the longitudinal change in the potential predictors. Knowledge of factors predicting these psychosocial outcomes, which are of crucial importance both for the patient themselves, their fa mily members, and for the society, enabling optimal planning of care. This has a potentially beneficial effect both on patients' and caregivers' quality of life as well as the optimal use of health care resources, and promises to create an evidence-based foundation on which to base future targeted interventions to improve these measures.