| Many in Assisted
Living Have Mental Health Problems
Two-thirds of those in study had dementia, depression
Rates of mental health problems among elderly assisted living residents
are higher than expected, says an Indiana
University study in the October issue of the Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society.
Two-thirds of the 2,100 assisted living residents in the study showed
signs of mental health problems. Half of them had dementia and a
quarter of them showed signs of depression. More than half took
psychotropic medications such as antipsychotics, sedatives or antidepressants.
The residents in the study lived in 193 assisted living facilities
in four states.
"These findings, that the rate of mental health problems in
the assisted living population is as high as the rate of mental
health problems in nursing home patients -- and much higher than
the 6 or 7 percent of individuals with depression or dementia found
in the age 65 and older population seen by primary-care physicians
-- is rather surprising," study co-author Dr. Malaz Boustani,
an assistant professor of medicine at
Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.
"Now that we know that a significant proportion of assisted
living residents have mental health problems, we need to work with
assisted living residents, administrators, health-care providers,
policy makers and advocates to ensure that these facilities can
accommodate their residents without over-medicating. And we don't
want to repeat the overregulation errors we have made with nursing
home care," Boustani said.
More information
The Family Caregiver Alliance has more about assisted living.
SOURCE: Indiana
University, news release, October 2004
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