Functional Decline among Older Adults with ADRD Sample Clauses

Functional Decline among Older Adults with ADRD. ADRD has been recognized as a major cause of functional impairment.[25] As ADRD progresses, both cognition and functional abilities decline, and the pace of the decline advances from mild to severe.[1] Cognitive deterioration resulting from ADRD also has significant repercussions on a patient’s ability to function in activities such as meal preparation and grocery shopping.[5] In more advanced stages of ADRD, patients need increasingly more help with ADLs, lose their ability to communicate, fail to recognize their families, and eventually become completely dependent on “around-the-clock care.”[1] When individuals have difficulties in functionality, especially moving, they are shown to be more likely to be vulnerable to infections, causing further complications in treatment.[1] Beside infections and complications in treatment for patients with ADRD, functional impairment has further been shown to exert a significant effect on the quality of life in several domains. Xxxxx et al. (2017) assessed the association between functional alterations and/or decline with quality of life among older adults with ADRD and other dementias in seven French hospitals. The study found that there is a significantly positive association between the ability to transfer in home and to use the telephone with an ADRD patient’s confidence in themselves, feelings of accomplishment, and capability of making their own decisions.[26] The ability to get dressed without assistance is associated with higher quality of life regarding negative feelings such as loneliness, anger, irritation, and etc.[27] Difficulties and decline in functionality can exert a negative impact on the quality of life among the older adults with ADRD.