Predictors of care dependency in Alzheimer's disease after a two-year period

This paper presents the results from a panel study in the Netherlands of 68 female in-patients with Alzheimer's disease. The main focus of this study was to investigate longitudinal changes and differences in care dependency. Descriptive statistics indicated an increase in almost all 15 features of dependency in a two-year period. A stepwise regression procedure revealed that the loss of social relationships, the loss of the ability to communicate, and the degree of care dependency at entry to the study were the strongest predictors of the follow-up ratings. The pattern of findings reveals that the Care Dependency Scale is sensitive to care dependency increase after a two-year period, and that the scale has utility in establishing longitudinal patterns of care dependency. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.