Not long ago, I saw a science fiction film with the premise that genetic, medical, and computer technology had excelled to the point that within a matter of seconds, any ordinary citizen could submit a minute skin or hair sample for DNA analysis, which would yield his or her future lifetime medical history within rather certain probabilities. In this future society, I could learn that my new-born grandson would have an 83% probability of a severe myocardial infarction by age 62 and that if he survived it, he had a 91% chance that his Alzheimer's disease (AD) would progress to the moderate level by age 78.

Whether called psychogeriatrics, old-age psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, geriatric psychology, or mental health of the elderly, the clinical disciplines focusing on the mental health problems of older individuals are increasingly becoming recognized as subspecialties of their parent disciplines. Although the rate at which this is occurring is variable, interest is spreading worldwide and will continue to grow.

Neuropsychological testing provides an important adjunct to diagnosis and prognosis in geriatric assessment, which has become of increasing importance in light of the rising prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders for which no specific biological marker is presently available. Neuropsychological testing itself involves the observation of an individual's behavior in relation to a given stimulus selected for its likelihood to provoke an abnormal response in the face of damage to a specific neuroanatomical structure. The theoretical basis of neuropsychological assessment is derived both from cognitive psychology, which deals with the development of cognitive tests for the demonstration of theoretical models of cognitive functioning, and also from behavioral neurology, which aims at the classification of normal and pathological responses to cognitive stimuli with a view to screening central nervous system disorder.

Despite a growing list of potential new risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of the oldest remains controversial. Is female gender a risk factor for AD? It is likely that the greatest influence on the gender differential in crude prevalence rates is the increasing incidence of dementia with age (Paykel et al., 1994) combined with the greater longevity women (Moritz & Ostfeld, 1990). This must be distinguished from the hypothesis that there may also be a gender difference in the age-specific prevalence rates some dementias such as AD. In turn, this could be due to either a higher incidence dementia in women, or to longer survival times in women following diagnosis. What is the evidence for these hypotheses?

Background: General relationships between dotage and infancy and childhood have been acknowledged for more than two millennia. Recent findings indicate precise relationships between functional, praxic, and feeding changes in the course of the degenerative dementia of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and inverse corresponding developmental sequences. Similar inverse relationships between AD and human development can be described for cognition and language skills; for physiologic measures of electroencephalographic activity, brain glucose metabolism, and developmental neurologic reflex changes; and for the neuropathologic and neuroanatomic progression of these processes. In AD, these processes may be termed “retrogenesis.” The relevance of the retrogenesis model for AD management is explored. Method: The functional stages of AD can be translated into developmental age equivalents that can be utilized to explicate observed changes in the disease. Results: The retrogenesis-based developmental age model can usefully inform an understanding of the general care needs, emotional and behavioral changes, and activity needs of the AD patient. This model must be amended by necessary caveats regarding physical differences, variations in age-associated pathology, differences in social and societal reactions, and differences in background between AD patients and their developmental age “peers.” Conclusions: Knowledge of retrogenesis and the developmental age of the AD patients can form a nidus for the development of a nascent science of disease management. Such a science must ultimately incorporate not only appropriate caveats but also relevant universal human needs, such as those for dignity, love, and movement.

Objective: Despite considerable data from a number of countries regarding psychotropic utilization in long-term-care facilities for the elderly, there has been a lack of similar data from Canada. The purpose of this study was to gather prescription data from a series of institutions in Ontario and to compare the results to those of other international studies. Method: Single-day surveys were carried out in six homes for the aged, four nursing homes, two retirement homes, and a veterans' center. The results were compared to those of recent studies from other countries. Results: The data revealed considerable differences in rates of prescription between different classes of institutions and between similarly classified institutions. The prescription rate of neuroleptics ranged from 11.8% (of patients) in retirement homes to 29.8% in nursing homes. Antidepressant use ranged from 12.2% in nursing homes to 24.6% in homes for the aged, and benzodiazepine use ranged from 22.5% in nursing homes to 36.4% in retirement homes. Conclusions: The overall rate of prescription for psychotropic medications was somewhat lower than in most international studies. The rate of prescription of neuroleptics in nursing homes fell in the midrange of studies, somewhat higher than in recent studies from the United States and an earlier Italian study, but lower than in recent reports from Sweden, Austria, and Australia. The rate of neuroleptic use in homes for the aged was comparable to the rate in the U.S. studies. The overall rate of prescription of antidepressants and benzodiazepines appears to be comparable to that in recent studies from other countries.

Recent studies have identified cognitive deficits in semantic memory and verbal language abilities among women with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Few studies to date have explored gender differences in episodic memory function in AD. The present study compared the performance of men and women diagnosed with AD on a battery of neuropsychological measures. Results indicated the presence of gender-related cognitive deficits on tasks of confrontation naming, expressive world knowledge, and both episodic and semantic memory for women with AD, relative to findings in men.

The next millennium looms, bright and pristine, ours for the asking. Sounds good, although sour notes have already chimed. The millennium, it is said, starts 2000/2001 and not 1999/2000; Y2K is going to start with a computer-driven catastrophe; on CNN this morning it was reported that three airlines, including Virgin Atlantic airlines, had decided not to fly at New Year.

Background: Previous studies of dementia and family caregiving have focused on individuals seeking diagnosis and treatment, and have rarely been conducted in representative community samples. Identifying demented individuals participating in a community survey, we determined (a) the factors associated with demented elderly living alone; (b) the factors associated with the demented elderly having caregivers; (c) the factors associated with increased levels of burden among caregivers of persons with dementia. Population and Methods: During an epidemiological survey of a mostly rural U.S. community, the authors identified 116 noninstitutionalized elderly individuals with dementia. These individuals were classified into those living alone and those living with others; both groups were further classified into those with an without identifiable family caregivers. Characteristics of both caregivers and care recipients were examined. Results: Approximately a third of the subjects with dementia lived alone, and only half of them had caregivers. The average age of the caregivers was 67.4 years, and 73% of them were women. Almost half of the caregivers were spouses, whereas almost a third were offspring, of the demented individuals. Over two thirds of caregivers lived with the subjects. Female caregivers were significantly younger than male caregivers. Multivariate analyses revealed that subjects with dementia who were living alone were independently and significantly more likely to be women and to have dementias of shorter duration, lesser severity, and lesser functional impairment than those living with others. Demented subjects with caregivers were more likely to have greater dementia severity, functional impairment, and cognitive impairment and more current cognitive and behavioral symptoms than those without caregivers. Demented subjects whose caregivers reported higher levels of burden were more likely to be women and to have greater dementia severity, functional impairment, and cognitive impairment and more current symptoms than those whose caregivers had no/minimal burden. Conclusions: These results draw attention to the problems of persons with dementia living alone, particularly those without caregivers. Our data also provide epidemiological confirmation of previous clinical/volunteer studies of dementia caregiving, as well as a preliminary assessment of need in the community at large. Living arrangements and caregiver issues should be taken into account when planning services for the elderly.

A search for references relating to the treatment of anxiety disorders in the elderly was made using the BIDS computerized database back to 1981, the Medline computerized database back to 1983, and the PsycLIT computerized database back to 1974, together with a search of relevant citations. The profusion of clinical recommendations was found to contrast with the lack of adequate supporting controlled clinical trials. There was evidence of a trend away from the benzodiazepine class of anxiolytics and an upsurge in interest in agents active at the serotonin receptor, although with the possible exception of buspirone, there is so far little research evidence for advocating use of the new agents in the elderly. Psychological therapies may be useful for many types of anxiety in the elderly, but their efficacy is also as yet unproven. Rational prescribing recommendations for anxiety in this age group will require controlled clinical trials incorporating a multiaxial approach to anxiety assessment, quality-of-life measures, psychological and placebo controls, and adequate follow-up intervals.

In the last 50 years there has been both extraordinary and extraordinarily little progress in geriatric psychiatry, depending on the perspective from which the topic is viewed. In developed countries there has been a slow recognition of the emergence of the particular issues raised by aging populations. This has accelerated in the last few years, with the acknowledgment of the importance of the topic area in funding initiatives such as the European Union Framework V. In tandem with such developments has come the realization that aging populations, and their challenges, are not limited to the developed world, but also to developing countries that are experiencing demographic transition at much greater speed. Among the key areas of the impact of aging populations is health, and particularly mental health.

The present study examined the prevalence of dementia in the Nagasaki Prefecture. The purposes of our investigation were (a) to study the relationship between aging and the prevalence of dementia and the ratio of Alzheimer's disease (AD) to vascular dementia (VD), (b) to understand the features of early-onset dementia as seen in patients from 60 to 65 years, and (c) to examine the recognition of dementia by family members. The subjects of the study, a total of 4,368, were all 60 years old and over and were residing in the three areas of Nagasaki Prefecture at the time of the investigation, August 1995. We adopted a two-stage design. The first-stage questionnaire that we developed was delivered to subjects, and we selected for the second stage those subjects who met the criteria outlined in the Methods section. The second-stage investigation was an interview by community nurses and psychiatrists. The prevalence of dementia in subjects 60 years and over was 6.2% (men: 5.9%; women:6.8%). The prevalence increased with age. The AD/VD ratio was 1.4, and was similar to the recent trend in Japan in that the ratio has reversed to resemble the western pattern. In regard to the family members' recognition of illness, the higher the severity of dementia, the higher the recognition ratio of family members became. Only half of these subjects were recognized as having dementia by their family members. In conclusion, the westernization of the AD/VD ratio in Japan was proved. There was little study about family recognition of dementia. In this study, it was remarkable that only half of the subjects were recognized as having dementia by their family members.

This study examines the psychometric properties of two new abbreviated versions of standard measures of depression, a revised eight-item Center for Epidemiological Studies--Depression Scale (CES-D) and a short-form Composite International Diagnostic Interview (short-form CIDI). A sample of 6,133 elders, age 70 years or older, completed both measures as part of the Asset and Health Dynamics Study of the Oldest Old. The revised CES-D had an internal consistency and factor structure comparable to that of prior versions of the CES-D. The sources of discordance between the two measures were examined and the two measures were compared on self-report of four clinical variables: medical illness, physician diagnosis, psychiatric treatment, and antidepressant or tranquilizer use. Both measures were associated with self-report of physician diagnosis and psychiatric treatment. Respondents positive for depression on the CES-D reported higher rates of antidepressant use. Respondents positive on the short-form CIDI only did not report more antidepressant use than nondepressed respondents.

Background: Demographic changes indicating a general aging of the population suggest that the key role of general practitioners (GPs) in the diagnosis and management of dementia becomes more salient. The encouragement of GPs to collaborate with specialists is one chance to support GPs in performing a variety of functions associated with the diagnosis and management of dementia. Method: We used a questionnaire to investigate the role of referrals in diagnosing dementia at the primary care level and variables potentially influencing the referral behavior of German GPs (n = 563). Results: Only 31% of the GPs stated that the diagnosis of dementia was made predominantly in the context of referral to a specialist. The chance that referrals were made was increased for those GPs who entertained extensive cooperative relationships with self-help groups, psychologists, or the “Alzheimer Society”/“Brain League” (odds ratio [OR] 1.74) and for those GPs who perceived a great preparedness on the part of the relatives of the patient to comply with a referral (OR 2.29) as well as who noticed a great readiness among specialists to accept patients for the diagnosis of dementia (OR 2.55). GPs whose therapeutic orientation was shaped by further training and scientific literature were more likely to refer (OR 3.54). Discussion: Enhancing the liaison between GPs and specialist physicians by improving the psychogeriatric competence of GPs as well as the connection to nonmedical services is discussed.

Background: Sleep complaints are frequent in old age. These difficulties are often associated with health-related problems, drug consumption, and the presence of mental disorders. Nonetheless, only sparse information is available on the clinical characteristics of elderly persons with insomnia. Aims: (a) To evaluate the prevalence of sleep problems among the elderly assessed in a psychogeriatric outpatient clinic; (b) to evaluate the association between the use of sleep tablets and sleep difficulties in this sample of patients. Methods: One hundred eighteen consecutive subjects were recruited from a psychogeriatric outpatient service in São Paulo, Brazil. Their sleep pattern was systematically assessed with the “sleep inventory,” a questionnaire consisting of 31 items that evaluate a number of sleep-related features. Clinical diagnoses followed the ICD-10 clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. The number of drugs consumed by patients was also recorded. Results: Sleep complaints were highly prevalent (59.3%), with early morning awakening and nightmares being more frequent among patients with a depressive disorder. The use of sleep tablets was reported by 37.3% of subjects, and was associated with subjective sleep difficulties (odds ratio [OR] = 7.13, p = .008), difficulties falling asleep (OR = 7.33, p = .021), and frequent awakenings during the night (OR = 7.10, p = .040) in a logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Sleep dissatisfaction is frequent among psychogeriatric outpatients. Subjects taking hypnotic drugs have more sleep-related complaints than those who do not. The clinical use of hypnotics may not be very effective for the treatment of sleep-related problems in the elderly. There is an urgent need for systematic prospective controlled studies to assess the efficacy and safety of the various forms of treatment of insomnia in old age.

Assessment of progress in geriatric psychiatry in Canada is a difficult task. There are no good and easily accessible measures; the process of assessment is influenced by personal values and emotions; to a large extent, progress in geriatric psychiatry defies national and even subspecialty boundaries. Difficulties notwithstanding, I have attempted a brief, dispassionate assessment that focuses on training, personnel, services, professional organizations, and research activity.