BPSD are common in older hospital patients with dementia and associated with considerable distress in nursing staff, as well as a wide range of special treatments needs and additional behavioural and medical complications. Management strategies are needed to improve the situation for both patients and hospital staff.

I n 2016, 8.56 million older patients were treated on an inpatient basis in general hospital departments in Germany. This is equivalent to 44.7% of all inpatients of all age groups. The length of hospital stay of patients aged 65 or older was considerably longer compared with that of younger patients (8.1 days versus 4.9 days); as the result, older patients accounted for 57.1% of all days of inpatient treatment, making them the largest group of inpatients (1). A considerable number of older hospitalized patients with physical illnesses also suffer from dementia and related cognitive impairments. However, the exact number of patients experiencing these health problems is currently not known. Previous studies were almost impossible to compare because the methods they used varied widely and they typically comprised small, non-Working Group Psychiatric Epidemiology,

in agreement with meta-analyses that include younger age groups, our study suggests that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption is inversely related to incident dementia, also among individuals aged 75 years and older.

The DSS is well-suited for the recognition of dementia in old age homes. It achieved a better validity than global diagnosis-related staff assessments and compared to performance-based instruments. It is easier to apply, more economic, and associated with a fewer rate of non-response.

Significant differences for a number of indicators of the quality of life point in favour of special dementia care. Future evaluation studies ought to examine not only the general efficacy of types of care designed especially for dementia patients but also the efficacy of the respective individual components (i.e. caregiver ratio).