[Right_to_die] Hospice best for patients with dementia -- report

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

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Food Consumer magazine reported 3 Jan 11:

Hospice care good for nursing home residents with advanced dementia

Life is not easy for elderly people with advanced dementia like 
Alzheimer's who reside in a nursing home.  If there are not many days 
left for them, they may better off being referred to hospice, a new 
study suggests.

The study led by DK Kiely and colleagues of Hebrew SeniorLife Institute 
for Aging Research in Boston Massachusetts found hospice recipients were 
more likely to regularly receive opioids for pain and symptomatic 
treatment for dyspnea and they had fewer unmet needs at the end of their 
life.

Kiely et al. followed 323 nursing home residents with advanced dementia 
and their healthcare proxies for up to 18 months to collect data on 
hospice referral, frequency of pain and dyspnea and their treatments, 
and unmet needs for the last seven days of the residents' lives.

During the follow-up, 26 percent of the nursing home residents were 
referred to hospice.  Factors associated with hospice referral included 
nonwhite race, eating problems, proxies' perception that the residents 
had fewer than 6 months to live and better proxies' mental health.

The researchers found residents in hospice were more likely to be 
treated with opioids for pain regularly and with oxygen, morphine, 
scopolamine, or hyoscyamine for dyspnea. Healtchare proxies in hospice 
reported fewer unmet needs during the last days of the residents' lives.

The study was reported in the Dec 2010 issue of Journal of American 
geriatrics Society.

Dementia like Alzheimer's disease is a disabling illness. Healthy aging 
should not result in dementia.  Alzheimer's disease, which as a major 
form of dementia, has no cure, affects 4 to 5 million Americans, 
according to nih.gov.

Studies suggest Mediterranean diet and physical activity both help 
reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's.  --- David Lu.
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Source: 
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Healthcare/nursing_home_residents_dementia_0101100603.html

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