Quality of Life and the Experience of Living with Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease
Background: There is a need to better understand the experience of patients living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the early stages. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the perception of quality of life in patients with early-stage AD. Methods: A multicenter, non-interventional study wa...
| Authors: | ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; |
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| Format: | Article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication date: | 2022 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana (FISABIO) |
| Repository: | r-FISABIO. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:fisabio.fundanetsuite.com:p14313 |
| Online Access: | https://fisabio.portalinvestigacion.com/publicaciones/14313 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Alzheimer's disease depression early-stage hopelessness quality of life stigma |
| Summary: | Background: There is a need to better understand the experience of patients living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the early stages. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the perception of quality of life in patients with early-stage AD. Methods: A multicenter, non-interventional study was conducted including patients of 50-90 years of age with prodromal or mild AD, a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score >= 22, and a Clinical Dementia Rating-Global score (CDR-GS) of 0.5-1.0. The Quality of Life in Alzheimer ' s Disease (QoL-AD) questionnaire was used to assess health-related quality of life. A battery of self-report instruments was used to evaluate different psychological and behavioral domains. Associations between the QoL-AD and other outcome measures were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlations. Results: A total of 149 patients were included. Mean age (SD) was 72.3 (7.0) years and mean disease duration was 1.4 (1.8) years. Mean MMSE score was 24.6 (2.1). The mean QoL-AD score was 37.9 (4.5). Eighty-three percent (n = 124) of patients had moderate-to-severe hopelessness, 22.1% (n = 33) had depressive symptoms, and 36.9% (n = 55) felt stigmatized. The quality of life showed a significant positive correlation with self-efficacy and negative correlations with depression, emotional and practical consequences, stigma, and hopelessness. Conclusion: Stigma, depressive symptoms, and hopelessness are frequent scenarios in AD negatively impacting quality of life, even in a population with short disease duration and minimal cognitive impairment. |
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