No abstract

Although these results may support disclosure of diagnosis for most patients with AD, clinical and ethical issues remain in individual cases.

The 2-factor solution shows that, notwithstanding previous claims to the contrary, the MMSE can make stable and independent distinctions between psychomotor and perceptual-organizational processes. However, this solution is statistically and conceptually limited and, therefore, of limited clinical and scientific relevance. The 4-factor solution of the MMSE maps well onto commonly recognized dimensions of neurocognitive ability. It offers a stable, intuitively sound, and statistically supported framework for clinical differentiation of cognitive screening data into independent clinical dimensions of neurocognitive functioning. Thus, it offers clinicians and researchers a 4-dimensional framework for interpreting data obtained by means of the MMSE. Studies with other populations of cognitively impaired and intact elderly are recommended to validate and extend the present findings.

A comprehensive review of the multidisciplinary functional assessment and treatment of 800 patients seen at a community-based geriatric assessment center was performed to profile clinical characteristics of patients attending such a program and to evaluate possible predictors of institutionalization. The most common problems addressed were senile dementia (46%), hypertension (31%), clinically significant depression (30%), and burdened caregiver (24%). More than 90% of patients were able to remain in the community after multidisciplinary treatment of their problems and marshalling of support services. The most potent predictors of institutionalization in rank order of predictive value were: falls or unstable gait, senile dementia, caregiver strain, lack of support services, and moderate to severe impairment of ability to perform activities of daily living (multiple R = 0.45; P = .001). Advantages and impediments to community-based assessment are discussed.

Elderly residents of rural areas are at significant risk for mental health problems, yet have less access to mental health services. Thus, most mental health problems among rural elderly remain either undiagnosed or untreated. We describe two models of mental health outreach programs to rural elderly in Iowa and Virginia, serving demographically, culturally, and epidemiologically different populations in geographically and economically dissimilar regions. Programs are compared on the basis of initiation, community partnerships, target population, target region, clinical disciplines involved, coordinating discipline, referral sources, operational model, initial home assessment, care planning, sustainability, cost, patient demographics, and primary and secondary diagnoses. Outreach programs are argued to be effective models of delivering services to geographically and/or socially isolated elderly populations. The experiences of our programs, though limited to rural populations, may be of relevance to any outreach program attempting to serve elderly presenting with or at risk for mental health problems.