Becoming or Remaining Agitated: The Course of Agitation in People with Dementia Living in Care Homes. The English Longitudinal Managing Agitation and Raising Quality of Life (MARQUE) Study

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Marston, Louise^{a; b; *} | Livingston, Gill^{c; d} | Laybourne, Anne^c | Cooper, Claudia^{c; d}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, Rowland Hill Street, London, UK | [b] Priment Clinical Trials Unit, University College London, UK | [c] Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK | [d] Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Louise Marston, Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK. Tel.: +44 20 8016 8022; E-mail: l.marston@ucl.ac.uk.

Abstract: Care home residents with dementia often have accompanying agitation. We investigated agitation’s course at 5 time-points in 1,424 people with dementia over 16 months in 86 English care homes. We categorized baseline agitation symptoms on the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) into none (CMAI = 29; 15%), subclinical (CMAI = 30–45; 45%), or clinically-significant (CMAI > 45; 40%). 88% of those with no agitation at baseline remained free of clinically-significant agitation at all follow-ups. Seventy percent of those exhibiting clinically-significant agitation at baseline had clinically-significant agitation at some follow-ups. Over a 16-month observation period, this study finds many care home residents with dementia never develop clinically significant agitation and interventions should be for treatment not prevention.

Keywords: Agitation, dementia, neuropsychiatric symptoms, nursing homes

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-191195

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 76, no. 2, pp. 467-473, 2020