Evaluation of quality of life in patients with major neurocognitive disorder

Abstract

Introduction: Dementia is a syndrome in which there is an increase in dependency and a decrease in quality and life expectancy. Quality of life is a multidimensional concept whose evaluation is complex, but very useful in the therapeutic approach. The objective was to assess the quality of life in institutionalized elderly diagnosed with dementia. Material and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional observational study carried out on institutionalized patients in Lanzarote (Spain) during February 2020. The variables recorded were: sociodemographic (age and sex), baseline situation (Barthel index -IB-, global deterioration scale-functional assessment staging -GDS-FAST- and social resources scale -OARS-) and quality of life determined by the specific QUALID scale (Quality of life in late-stage dementia), whose score ranges from 11-55 points (inversely proportional results). The statistical analysis was carried out in the statistical program SPSSV26. Results: 35 patients were included, with a mean age of 83.91 ± 7.66 years. In relation to the comprehensive geriatric assessment: 97.14% had severe functional dependence (mean IB 12.71 ± 15.69), the mean GDS-FAST was 6.00 ± 1.08 and the mean OARS was 2.51 ± 0.74. The mean score obtained in the scale was 26.09 ± 11.14. If we analyze the items separately, smiling and physical contact obtain the highest scores (3.03 ± 1.72 and 2.97 ± 1.10, respectively). In contrast, crying and irritability obtained the lowest scores (1.31 ± 0.76 and 1.91 ± 1.44, respectively). Key conclusions: The determination of quality of life could be useful to decide the therapeutic attitude in a patient diagnosed with dementia.