Faculty Bibliography

Limbic encephalitis presents as altered mood, memory loss and confusion. Clinical features may include psychiatric symptoms and seizures. In contrast to paraneoplastic disorders, non-paraneoplastic autoimmune encephalitis often responds to immunotherapy and sometimes with marked recovery. However, relapse can occur. An 82-year-old male presented with subacute episodes of memory loss over a few days. The patient was unable to recognize his own home and family members. Physical exam was unremarkable. Neuropsychological assessment revealed deficits in cognitive performance that could be consistent with moderate dementia or a more rapidly progressive encephalopathy. Agitated behavior and anxiety were also noted. Laboratory evaluation included hyponatremia, which was corrected with no symptom improvement. B12, TSH, and HIV were normal. CSF analysis revealed 10 WBCs/muL, Glucose-52 mg/dl, Protein-62 mg/dl and was negative for infectious, neoplastic causes, varicella, VDRL, viral cultures, NMDA receptor antibody, GAD 65 antibody and Anti-Hu antibody. Occult malignancy work up with CT scan of chest and abdomen and colonoscopy was normal. Serum for voltage-gated potassium channel antibodies was positive at 849 pmol/l (>88). EEG showed occasional focal left fronto-temporal slowing without epileptiform activity. MRI revealed focal enhancement of the medial left temporal lobe consistent with limbic encephalitis. The patient started high dose steroids with improvement in memory and complete resolution of focal abnormality within the left hippocampal/parahippocampal region suggestive of resolving encephalitis. At seven months after tapering steroids the patient presented with myoclonus and recurrent memory loss. MRI demonstrated recurrent encephalitis with gyral swelling and FLAIR hyperintensity in the left temporal lobe. The patient was restarted on high dose steroids with addition of Rituximab. This case illustrates that limbic encephalitis can present as a rapidly progressive dementia. Differential diagnosis should include more unusual forms of rapidly progressive dementia such as Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease if myoclonus is present, Lewy body dementia if waxing and waning memory, and Alzheimer's dementia with acute delirium if presenting over a period of months. In this patient, MRI changes were crucial to recognizing a potentially reversible limbic encephalitis. Early recognition and treatment may decrease relapse and reduce functional impairment

Objective: 1) To demonstrate the feasibility of an interdisciplinary home visit program (HVP) for advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) providing expert, interdisciplinary care directly to homebound patients; 2) to test whether the HVP improves patient quality of life despite disease progression. Background: As PD progresses, symptoms increase, quality of life declines, and individuals may become homebound, often losing access to neurologic care. This leads to a surge in emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Improving access to expert in-home care may improve quality of life. Design/Methods: PD patients meeting Medicare criteria for homebound status are eligible to receive quarterly home visits over 12 months. Each visit entails an evaluation by a movement disorders specialist, social worker, and nurse, including detailed history, physical examination, real-time medication reconciliation, psychosocial evaluation, and referral to in-home services. Quality of life (Neuro-QoL) is measured at Visits 1 and 4. Results: Out of 27 subjects enrolled, 26 have completed the study. At baseline, subjects' mean age is 81 years (SD 7.8); mean PD duration is 10 years; mean UPDRS total score is 65 (SD 20). Of the 26 subjects completing Visit 4, total UPDRS increased by a mean of 12 (SD 10.7), yet quality of life improved in 7/8 Neuro-QoL domains. Conclusions: We identified a unique population typically lost to clinical care and research-the elderly, homebound with advanced PD-and this is the first description of their progression over time. Despite the expected progression of functional and motor disability over one year, subjects reported improved quality of life since entering the HVP. Next steps include the implementation of a hybrid in-person/telehealth home visit model, inclusion of individuals with cognitive impairment in future studies, and comparison of outcomes with other advanced PD populations

This study attempted to better understand factors associated with relationship conflict between daughters and their parents with dementia. We examined data from 77 daughters self-identified as primary caregivers of a parent with dementia to test the hypothesis that daughters' belief that a parent with dementia can control their symptoms is associated with more conflict, defined as high expressed emotion (EE). Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing beliefs about parents' ability to control symptoms, stress, relationship conflict, parent agitation, and cognitive status. Results indicated that greater intensity of daughters' belief that their parent can control dementia-related symptoms was associated with more relationship conflict or "high EE" (beta = 0.57, P < .001). Daughters' beliefs about parental behavior may contribute to caregiver stress and exacerbate negative behaviors exhibited by individuals with dementia. Educating caregivers about parental behaviors and examining factors underlying caregiver interpretations of these behaviors hold promise for reducing caregiver stress.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:Individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) are at elevated risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. METHODS:With data from the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study, we used the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes classifications to conduct a cross-sectional analysis assessing the relationship between cognitive state and various direct and indirect costs and health care utilization patterns. RESULTS:Patients with aMCI had less medical expenditures than patients with moderate and severe AD dementia (P < .001) and were also significantly less likely to have been hospitalized (P = .04) and admitted to nursing home (P < .001). Compared to individuals with normal cognition, patients with aMCI had significantly less household income (P = .018). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS:Patients with aMCI had lower medical expenditures than patients with AD dementia. Poor cognitive status was linearly associated with lower household income, higher medical expenditures, higher likelihood of nursing and home care services, and lower likelihood of outpatient visits.

As many as 50% of people satisfying diagnostic criteria for dementia are undiagnosed. A team-based training program for dementia screening and management was developed targeting four professions (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work) whose scope of practice involves dementia care. An interprofessional group of 10 faculty members was trained to facilitate four interactive competency stations on dementia screening, differential diagnoses, dementia management and team care planning, and screening for and managing caregiver stress. Registrants were organized into teams of five members, with at least one member of each profession per team. The teams rotated through all stations, completing assigned tasks through interprofessional collaboration. A total of 117 professionals (51 physicians, 11 nurses, 20 pharmacists, 24 social workers, 11 others) successfully completed the program. Change scores showed significant improvements in overall competence in dementia assessment and intervention (very low = 1; very high = 5; average change 1.12, P < .001), awareness of importance of dementia screening (average change 0.85, P < .001), and confidence in managing medication (average change 0.86, P < .001). Eighty-seven participants (82.9%) reported feeling confident or very confident using the dementia toolkit at their home institution. In a survey administered 3 months after the session, 48 respondents reported that they had changed their approach to administering the Mini-Cog test (78%), differential diagnosis (49%), assessment of caregiver stress (74%), and accessing community support and services (69%). In conclusion, team-based interprofessional competency training is a team teaching model that can be used to enhance competency in dementia screening and management in medical, nursing, pharmacy, and social work practitioners.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Cognitive impairment (CI) is one of several factors known to influence hospitalization, hospital length of stay, and rehospitalization among older adults. Redesigning care delivery systems sensitive to the influence of CI may reduce acute care utilization while improving care quality. To develop a foundation of fundamental needs for health care redesign, we conducted focus groups with inpatient and outpatient providers to identify barriers, facilitators, and suggestions for improvements in care delivery for patients with CI. DESIGN AND METHODS: Focus group sessions were conducted with providers to identify their approach to caring for cognitively impaired hospitalized adults; obstacles and facilitators to providing this care; and suggestions for improving the care process. Using a thematic analysis, two reviewers analyzed these transcripts to develop codes and themes. RESULTS: Seven themes emerged from the focus group transcripts. These were: (1) reflections on serving the cognitively impaired population; (2) descriptions of perceived barriers to care; (3) strategies that improve or facilitate caring for hospitalized older adults; (4) the importance of fostering a hospital friendly to the needs of older adults; (5) the need for educating staff, patients, and caregivers; (6) the central role of good communication; and (7) steps needed to provide more effective care. IMPLICATIONS: Providing effective acute care services to older adults with CI is an important challenge in health care reform. An understanding derived from the perspective of multiple professional disciplines is an important first step. Future research will build on this preliminary study in developing new acute care models for patients with CI.

BACKGROUND: Medication non-adherence is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and is associated with increased disability and healthcare costs. Individuals' beliefs regarding their medical conditions and treatments impact medication adherence. While instruments exist to measure patients' beliefs about medications in general, no such tool exists for PD. OBJECTIVES: Create an instrument eliciting medication beliefs of persons with PD; identify demographic and clinical characteristics associated with beliefs; and examine whether beliefs are associated with dopaminergic therapy adherence. METHODS: We developed the Parkinson's Disease Medication Beliefs Scale (PD-Rx) in four phases: focus groups of patients and caregivers to generate items, scale development, expert and patient revision of items, and a cross-sectional validation sample (n = 75). Adherence was calculated using two approaches incorporating self-reported medication lists. RESULTS: The PD-Rx consists of 11 items covering benefits and risks of PD pharmacotherapies. The scale covers motor improvement, current adverse effects, and future concerns. Higher scores indicate more positive beliefs. Internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.67). Test-retest reliability was 0.47. Quality of life was associated with PD-Rx scores, and lower scores were associated with non-adherence. CONCLUSIONS: Negative beliefs about PD treatments are associated with lower quality of life and may be related to medication non-adherence. Further study of any causal relationship between beliefs and medication non-adherence in PD will inform the design of future patient-centered interventions to improve adherence.

Many countries have adopted national dementia plans to identify actions to address the growing Alzheimer's crisis. The enactment of the National Alzheimer's Project Act called for the creation of such a plan in the United States, and the first U.S. national Alzheimer's plan was released in 2012, with annual updates thereafter. As the release of the original Plan, efforts have been underway to implement its five goals, including identifying milestones required to meet the plan's biomedical research goal (goal 1). However, similar milestones have not been completed for the goals on care (goal 2) and support (goal 3). To advance this effort, the Alzheimer's Association convened a workgroup with expertise in clinical care and long-term services and supports, dementia care and support research, and public policy to identify key milestones necessary to achieve goals 2 and 3. This report outlines the workgroup's activities and presents the workgroup's recommended milestones.