Relative preservation of advanced activities in daily living among patients with mild-to-moderate dementia in the community and overview of support provided by family caregivers

Little is known about the extent to which advanced activities of daily living among patients with dementia are preserved and how family caregivers of these patients support them in the community. In this cross-sectional assessment of pairs of patients with dementia and their family caregivers, we evaluated basic, instrumental, and advanced activities of daily living by comparing past and present status observed by caregivers with subjective estimations by patients with dementia. We also asked about ways in which support was provided by family caregivers. Thirty-nine pairs of patients with dementia and caregivers who presented to our memory clinic were interviewed. The mean age of patients with dementia was 75.3±7.0 years, and Mini-Mental State Examination scores were 22.3±3.4. We found relative preservation of advanced activities of daily living compared with instrumental activities of daily living. Caregivers provided instrumental, informational, and reminding support to patients with dementia. These findings may reinforce the concept of person-centered support of patients with dementia in the community.