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Research Paper|Volume 12, Issue 11|pp 10754—10771

How non-drug interventions affect the quality of life of patients suffering from progressive cognitive decline and their main caregiver

Benedetta Leidi-Maimone1, Marie-Laure Notter-Bielser1, Marie-Hélène Laouadi1, Sarah Perrin1,2, Hélène Métraux3, Daniel Damian1, Camille F. Chavan4, Mélanie Nsir5, Gwendoline Cibelli6, Marie-Jo Tâche7, Marie-Louise Montandon8,9, Joseph Ghika10, Jean-François Démonet1,9, Anne-Véronique Dürst11, Andrea Brioschi Guevara1,9
  • 1Leenaards Memory Center, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 2Service of Old Age Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry (SUPAA), Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 3Vaud Association for Help and Home Care (AVASAD, Association Vaudoise d’Aide et de Soins à Domicile), Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 4Memory Center of the Neuropsychology and Aphasiology Unit, Fribourg Hospital (HFR), Fribourg, Switzerland
  • 5Nord Broye Memory Center, Montagny-près-Yverdon, Switzerland
  • 6East Memory Center of Canton Vaud, Rennaz, Switzerland
  • 7La Côte Memory Center, Rolle, Switzerland
  • 8Memory Center of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), Geneva, Switzerland
  • 9CU ROMENS, Switzerland
  • 10Valais Hospital Memory Center, Sierre, Switzerland
  • 11Service of Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Rehabilitation, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
* Equal contribution
Received: December 17, 2019Accepted: April 27, 2020Published: June 9, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103291

Copyright © 2020 Leidi-Maimone et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Background: In the absence of cure for age-related neurodegenerative diseases, non-drug interventions (NDIs) represent useful options. Quality of life (QOL) is a multidimensional concept progressively affected by cognitive decline. How single or multiple NDIs impact QOL is unknown.

Results: We found no significant effect of multiple over single NDI on QOL. Socio-demographic variables influenced patients’ (age, gender, caregivers’ occupational status, management of patients’ financial affairs) and caregivers’ (gender, occupational status, patients’ severity of cognitive decline) QOL. When dyads interrupted interventions after 6 months, their QOL was lower and caregivers’ anxiety, depression and physical symptoms were higher at the end of the study.

Conclusions: While the type and number of interventions do not appear to be critical, the continuity of adapted interventions in the long-term might be important for maintaining QOL of patients and caregivers.

Methods: This is a multicenter (7 Swiss Memory Clinics), quasi-experimental, one-year follow-up study including 148 subjects (mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia patients and their caregivers). Primary outcome was the effect of multiple vs single NDIs on QOL. Secondary outcome included NDIs effect on patients’ cognitive impairment and functional autonomy, caregivers’ burden, severity of patients’ neuropsychiatric symptoms and dyads’ anxiety and depression.