Population incidence and associated mortality of urinary tract infection in people living with dementia

OBJECTIVES

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) frequently cause hospitalisation and death in people living with dementia (PLWD). We examine UTI incidence and associated mortality among PLWD relative to matched controls and people with diabetes and investigate whether delayed or withheld treatment further impacts mortality.

METHODS

Data were extracted for n = 2,449,814 people aged ≥ 50 in Wales from 2000-2021, with groups matched by age, sex, and multimorbidity. Poisson regression was used to estimate incidences of UTI and mortality. Cox regression was used to study the effects of treatment timing.

RESULTS

UTIs in dementia (HR=2.18, 95 %CI [1.88-2.53], p < .0) and diabetes (1.21[1.01-1.45], p = .035) were associated with high mortality, with the highest risk in individuals with diabetes and dementia (both) (2.83[2.40-3.34], p < .0) compared to matched individuals with neither dementia nor diabetes. 5.4 % of untreated PLWD died within 60 days of GP diagnosis-increasing to 5.9 % in PLWD with diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS

Incidences of UTI and associated mortality are high in PLWD, especially in those with diabetes and dementia. Delayed treatment for UTI is further associated with high mortality.

Digital remote monitoring for screening and early detection of urinary tract infections

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are one of the most prevalent bacterial infections in older adults and a significant contributor to unplanned hospital admissions in People Living with Dementia (PLWD), with early detection being crucial due to the predicament of reporting symptoms and limited help-seeking behaviour. The most common diagnostic tool is urine sample analysis, which can be time-consuming and is only employed where UTI clinical suspicion exists. In this method development and proof-of-concept study, participants living with dementia were monitored via low-cost devices in the home that passively measure activity, sleep, and nocturnal physiology. Using 27828 person-days of remote monitoring data (from 117 participants), we engineered features representing symptoms used for diagnosing a UTI. We then evaluate explainable machine learning techniques in passively calculating UTI risk and perform stratification on scores to support clinical translation and allow control over the balance between alert rate and sensitivity and specificity. The proposed UTI algorithm achieves a sensitivity of 65.3% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 64.3-66.2) and specificity of 70.9% (68.6-73.1) when predicting UTIs on unseen participants and after risk stratification, a sensitivity of 74.7% (67.9-81.5) and specificity of 87.9% (85.0-90.9). In addition, feature importance methods reveal that the largest contributions to the predictions were bathroom visit statistics, night-time respiratory rate, and the number of previous UTI events, aligning with the literature. Our machine learning method alerts clinicians of UTI risk in subjects, enabling earlier detection and enhanced screening when considering treatment.

Remote Monitoring of Physiology in People Living With Dementia: An Observational Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

Internet of Things (IoT) technology enables physiological measurements to be recorded at home from people living with dementia and monitored remotely. However, measurements from people with dementia in this context have not been previously studied. We report on the distribution of physiological measurements from 82 people with dementia over approximately 2 years.

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to characterize the physiology of people with dementia when measured in the context of their own homes. We also wanted to explore the possible use of an alerts-based system for detecting health deterioration and discuss the potential applications and limitations of this kind of system.

METHODS

We performed a longitudinal community-based cohort study of people with dementia using "Minder," our IoT remote monitoring platform. All people with dementia received a blood pressure machine for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, a pulse oximeter measuring oxygen saturation and heart rate, body weight scales, and a thermometer, and were asked to use each device once a day at any time. Timings, distributions, and abnormalities in measurements were examined, including the rate of significant abnormalities ("alerts") defined by various standardized criteria. We used our own study criteria for alerts and compared them with the National Early Warning Score 2 criteria.

RESULTS

A total of 82 people with dementia, with a mean age of 80.4 (SD 7.8) years, recorded 147,203 measurements over 958,000 participant-hours. The median percentage of days when any participant took any measurements (ie, any device) was 56.2% (IQR 33.2%-83.7%, range 2.3%-100%). Reassuringly, engagement of people with dementia with the system did not wane with time, reflected in there being no change in the weekly number of measurements with respect to time (1-sample t-test on slopes of linear fit, P=.45). A total of 45% of people with dementia met criteria for hypertension. People with dementia with α-synuclein-related dementia had lower systolic blood pressure; 30% had clinically significant weight loss. Depending on the criteria used, 3.03%-9.46% of measurements generated alerts, at 0.066-0.233 per day per person with dementia. We also report 4 case studies, highlighting the potential benefits and challenges of remote physiological monitoring in people with dementia. These include case studies of people with dementia developing acute infections and one of a person with dementia developing symptomatic bradycardia while taking donepezil.

CONCLUSIONS

We present findings from a study of the physiology of people with dementia recorded remotely on a large scale. People with dementia and their carers showed acceptable compliance throughout, supporting the feasibility of the system. Our findings inform the development of technologies, care pathways, and policies for IoT-based remote monitoring. We show how IoT-based monitoring could improve the management of acute and chronic comorbidities in this clinically vulnerable group. Future randomized trials are required to establish if a system like this has measurable long-term benefits on health and quality of life outcomes.

1362 ANTICHOLINERGIC PRESCRIBING HABITS AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS IN A COMMUNITY POPULATION OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA

Introduction

Many commonly prescribed medications have inadvertent anticholinergic effects. People with Dementia (PwD) are more vulnerable to these effects and at risk of adverse outcomes, the risk being higher with a greater degree of anticholinergic exposure. We investigated prescribing patterns and Anticholinergic burden (ACB) in a cohort of community-dwelling older adults with dementia and aimed to explore the effect of ACB on cognition, mood, and quality of life(QoL).

Method

The medication and demographic information for 87 (39 female) community-dwelling PwD were obtained from Electronic Care Summaries. We used the German Anticholinergic Burden Scale (GABS) to measure ACB. Additionally, we investigated associations between ACB and cognitive (ADAS-Cog), functional (BADL) and QoL (DemQoL) assessments.

Results

28.7% of participants had a clinically significant score (ACB&gt; 2). The most commonly prescribed medications with ACB were Lansoprazole(18.3%), Mirtazapine(12.6%) and Codeine(12.6%). ACB was higher in males and negatively correlated with age, r(87)=-.21,p=.03. There was no association between ACB and cognition, QoL, functional independence, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Over six months, PLWD with no ACB had a greater negative change in neuropsychiatric symptoms[t(18)=2.27,p=.04] and functional independence[t(23)=-3.8,p=.001], indicating greater dependence and worsening neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Conclusion

A third of PLWD in the community had clinically significant ACB. No ACB was associated with worsening neuropsychiatric symptoms and functional dependence over a six-month period. Community prescribers should consider regular medication reviews with PLWD and carers to ensure medications are prescribed safely and appropriately.

1415 NOVEL APPROACHES TO POST DISCHARGE CARE. REMOTE HEALTHCARE MONITORING SYSTEMS FOLLOWING TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY IN OLDER ADULTS

Introduction

Major trauma including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is an increasingly common cause of hospitalisation in older adults (OAs). We studied post-discharge recovery from TBI using a remote healthcare monitoring system that captures data on activity and sleep. We aim to assess the feasibility and acceptability of this technology to monitor recovery at home following a significant acute health event in OAs.

Methods

We installed Minder, a remote healthcare monitoring system, in recently discharged patients &gt;60 years with moderate-severe TBI. We present descriptive analyses of post-discharge recovery for two males, corroborating data from Minder against verified activities and events. We recorded semi-structured interviews assessing acceptability. Both participants have similar household set-up, multimorbidity profiles and clinical frailty scores; however, one participant has prior cognitive impairment (PAT1), and one does not (PAT2).

Results

We present 10 weeks of sleep and activity data from Minder and feedback from interviews. Data observed from PAT1 revealed habitual patterns of activity and sleep. These remained stable, despite discrete clinical events. Conversely, PAT2's data revealed irregular sleep patterns that became increasingly fragmented. Activity was detected in multiple rooms throughout the house at night, consistent with carer reports of night-time wandering. Increased overnight activity coincided with multiple falls, prompting increased care provision. Initial feedback from interviews was the technology helped participants and those involved in their care feel supported.

Conclusions

As pressure on services mounts, novel approaches to post-discharge care are of increasing importance. Remote healthcare monitoring can provide high temporal resolution data offering ‘real world’ insights into the effects of significant health events in OAs. Our provisional results support our hypothesis that use of this technology is feasible and acceptable for frail, multimorbid participants and highlights the substantial potential of this technology to help clinicians improve community-based care and more effectively monitor interventions and chronic conditions.

042 Longitudinal assessment of sleep/wake behaviour in dementia patients living at home

Introduction

Disturbances of sleep/wake behaviour are amongst the most disabling symptoms of dementia, leading to increased carers’ burden and institutionalisation. The lack of unobtrusive, low- burden technologies validated to monitor sleep in patients living with dementia (PLWD) has prevented longitudinal studies of nocturnal disturbances and their correlates.

Aims

To examine the effect of medication changes and clinical status on the intraindividual variation in sleep/wake behaviour in PLWD.

Methods

Using under-mattress pressure-sensing mat in 46 PLWD, we monitored sleep/wake behavioural metrics for 13,711 nights between 2019-2021. Machine learning and >3.6million nightly summaries from 13,671 individuals from the general population were used to detect abnormalities in PLWD’s nightly sleep/wake metrics and convert them to risk scores. Additionally, GP records were reviewed for each patient to determine whether medication changes and clinical events affected sleep parameters.

Results

PLWD’s went to bed earlier and rose later than sex- and age-matched controls. They had more nocturnal awakenings with longer out-of-bed durations. Notably, at the individual patient level, increased metric-specific risk scores were temporally related to changes in antipsychotics and antidepressants, and acute illness, including UTI, cardiac events, and depressive episodes.

Conclusions

Passive monitoring of sleep/wake behaviours is a promising way to identify novel markers of disease progression and evaluate the effectiveness of pharmaceutical interventions in patients with dementia.

Using amyloid PET imaging to diagnose Alzheimer's disease in patients with multiple sclerosis

BACKGROUND

Cognitive dysfunction affects 40-60% of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). The neuropsychological profile commonly consists of a subcortical pattern of deficits, although a proportion of patients have a severe progressive cortical dementia. However, patients with MS can be affected by other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Little is known about the co-existence of these two conditions but distinguishing dementia due to MS alone from a coexisting neurodegenerative disease is challenging. Amyloid PET imaging has allowed improved AD diagnosis, especially in patients with atypical presentations or multiple possible causes of cognitive impairment. Amyloid PET demonstrates increased cortical signal in AD, whereas reductions in subcortical uptake are associated with demyelination. To the authors knowledge, there are no reports of clinical Amyloid PET use in MS patients with dementia.

METHODS

Here, three MS patients presenting to the Cognitive Neurology Clinic with progressive cognitive impairment are described. Due to lack of diagnostic clarity from standard investigations, they underwent Amyloid PET Imaging with ¹⁸F-florbetapir according to established appropriate use criteria and after review by a multidisciplinary team.

RESULTS

Two patients were diagnosed with AD based on positive Amyloid PET imaging and were subsequently started on cholinesterase inhibitor treatment. The other patient had a negative scan, leading to further investigations and identification of another potential cause of worsening cognitive impairment.

CONCLUSIONS

The experience from this case series suggests that Amyloid PET Imaging may be of diagnostic value in selected patients with MS and dementia. In these individuals, it may provide diagnostic clarity and assist with therapeutic decisions.

The effect of sodium nitroprusside on psychotic symptoms and spatial working memory in patients with schizophrenia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Sodium nitroprusside (SNP) has been reported to rapidly reduce psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. This has the potential to revolutionize treatment for schizophrenia. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that SNP leads to a reduction in psychotic symptoms and an improvement in spatial working memory (SWM) performance in patients with schizophrenia.

METHOD

This was a single-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial performed from 27 August 2014 to 10 February 2016 (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02176044). Twenty patients with schizophrenia aged 18-60 years with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were recruited from psychiatric outpatient clinics in the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK. Baseline symptoms were measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the 18-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-18), and SWM was assessed using the CANTAB computerized test. Participants received either an infusion of SNP (0.5 μg/kg per min for 4 h) or placebo and were re-assessed for symptoms and SWM performance immediately after the infusion, and 4 weeks later.

RESULTS

SNP did not lead to any reduction in psychotic symptoms or improvement in SWM performance compared to placebo.

CONCLUSIONS

Although this study was negative, it is possible that the beneficial effects of SNP may occur in patients with a shorter history of illness, or with more acute exacerbation of symptoms.

A comparative clinical study on five types of compression therapy in patients with venous leg ulcers

The aim of this study was to compare five types of compression therapy in venous leg ulcers (intermittent pneumatic vs. stockings vs. multi layer vs. two layer short stretch bandages vs. Unna boots). Primary study endpoints were analysis of changes of the total ulcer surface area, volume and linear dimensions inside observed groups. The secondary end points were comparisons between all groups the number of completely healed wounds (ulcer healing rates), Gilman index and percentage change of ulcer surface area. In total, 147 patients with unilateral venous leg ulcers were included to this study. Participants were randomly allocated to the groups: A, B, C, D and E. After two months the healing rate was the highest in group A (intermittent pneumatic compression) - 57.14%, 16/28 patients, B (ulcer stocking system) - 56.66%, 17/30 patients and C (multi layer short stretch bandage) - 58.62%, 17/29 patients. Significantly much worse rate found in group D (two layer short stretch bandages) - only 16.66%, 5/30 patients and E (Unna boots) - 20%, 6/30 patients. The analysis of changes of the percentage of Gilman index and wound total surface area confirmed that intermittent pneumatic compression, stockings and multi layer bandages are the most efficient. The two layer short - stretch bandages and Unna boots appeared again much less effective.

A randomized, controlled clinical pilot study comparing three types of compression therapy to treat venous leg ulcers in patients with superficial and/or segmental deep venous reflux 

Compression therapy--including inelastic, elastic, and intermittent pneumatic compression--is the standard of care for venous ulcers (VLUs) and chronic venous insufficiency, but there is no consensus in the literature regarding the most effective type of compression therapy. A prospective, randomized, clinical pilot study was conducted among 70 patients with unilateral VLUs treated in a hospital dermatology department in Poland to compare three types of compression therapy (intermittent pneumatic compression, stockings, and short-stretch bandages) in persons with superficial deep venous reflux alone or combined with the segmental variety. Study endpoints were change in ulcer dimensions and proportions healed. Patients with superficial or combined superficial and deep vein insufficiency were randomly allocated to receive one of the three therapies (one of each vein type for each treatment option, six groups total). All patients received saline-soaked gauze dressings along with micronized purified flavonoid fraction, diosmin, hesperidin, and Daflon 500 once daily. Compression treatments were changed or pneumatic compression provided daily for 15 days. Wound size reduction and percentage of wounds healed were significantly higher in groups receiving intermittent pneumatic compression or stockings than in groups using short-stretch bandages (for percentage change of ulcer surface area, P = 0.02; for healing rates P = 0.01). These results warrant additional randomized controlled clinical studies with a larger sample size and longer patient follow-up.