Journal
PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES
Volume 70, Issue 4, Pages 175-181Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/pcn.12375
Keywords
appetite; dementia; obsession with food; overeating; swallowing
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Funding
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [26461750] Funding Source: KAKEN
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AimsVarious eating-related problems are commonly observed among people with dementia, and these problems place a huge burden on the caregivers. An appropriate classification of these problems is important in order to understand their underlying mechanisms and to develop a therapeutic approach for managing them. The aim of this study was to develop a possible classification of eating-related problems and to reveal the background factors affecting each of these problems across various conditions causing dementia. MethodsThe participants were 208 institutionalized patients with a diagnosis of dementia. Care staff were asked to report all kinds of eating-related problems that they observed. After the nurses' responses were analyzed, 24 items relating to eating-related problems were extracted. A factor analysis of these 24 items was conducted, followed by a logistic regression analysis to investigate the independent variables that most affected each of the eating-related factors. ResultsFour factors were obtained. Factor 1 was overeating, factor 2 was swallowing problems, factor 3 was decrease in appetite, and factor 4 was obsession with food. Each factor was associated with different background variables, including Mini-Mental State Examination scores, Clinical Dementia Ratings, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. ConclusionsThis study suggests that eating-related problems are common across conditions causing dementia and should be separately considered in order to understand their underlying mechanisms.
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