Logo image
Back
Lewy body dementia: The caregiver experience of clinical care
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Lewy body dementia: The caregiver experience of clinical care

James E. Galvin, John E. Duda, Daniel I. Kaufer, Carol F. Lippa, Angela Taylor and Steven H. Zarit
Parkinsonism & related disorders, v 16(6), pp 388-392
2010
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2010.03.007
PMID: 20434939
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc2916037View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Caregiver experiences Diagnosis Lewy body dementia
Lewy body dementia (LBD) is the second most common cause of dementia, however, little is known about how the clinical diagnosis of LBD is obtained in the community or the caregiver experience while seeking the diagnosis. The Lewy Body Dementia Association ( www.LBDA.org) conducted a web-based survey of 962 caregivers over a 6-month period. The mean age of respondents was 55.9y; 88% were female and 64% had daily contact with patients. The mean age of LBD patients was 75.4y; 62% were male and 46% lived with a caregiver. The most common presentation of symptoms as reported by LBD caregivers was cognitive (48%), motor (39%) or both (13%). The first diagnoses given to the patients were Parkinson disease or other movement disorder (39%), Alzheimer disease or other cognitive disorder (36%), or mental illness (24%). Fifty percent of patients saw >3 doctors for more than 10 visits over the course of 1 year before an LBD diagnosis was established. Neurologists diagnosed most cases (62%), while primary care providers diagnosed only 6% of cases. No differences were found between the presentation of disease and the number of physicians, number of office visits, length of time to establish diagnosis, or type of doctor who finally made an LBD diagnosis. Caregivers viewed physicians as knowledgeable about disease manifestations and treatment options, but not about disease course/prognosis and available community resources and referrals. These data highlight a need for increasing physician awareness and knowledge of LBD, which will facilitate accurate diagnosis and treatment. Community resources such as the Lewy Body Dementia Association may serve this end, while also providing practical information and support for caregivers.

Metrics

15 Record Views
119 citations in Web of Science
126 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Clinical Neurology
Logo image