{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.039250669045495096, 'fraction_numerical': 0.018287243532560213, 'mean_word_length': 5.078590785907859, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 1, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Change in quality of life of people with dementia in residential care facilities: a 3‐year follow‐up study

Dear Editor, Quality of life (QOL) is an important outcome in the treatment and care of people with dementia (PWD) because the disease has a chronic progressive course. However, there have been relatively few QOL‐related studies that focus on PWD living in health‐care facilities. In our previous cross‐sectional studies, depressive symptoms were the most relevant cross‐sectional predictors of subjective QOL for PWD. To enhance QOL for PWD, it is important to consider changes in QOL for these individuals as well as predictors of future QOL. In our most recent study, we conducted follow‐up surveys of QOL changes over time (approximately 3 years) in elderly PWD living in health‐care facilities and considered the relationship between QOL changes and clinical variables. The baseline study included 116 patients living in health‐care facilities. The scales employed in this study were the Japanese version of the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (QOL‐AD) for QOL, the Barthel index for activities of daily living, the Mini‐ Mental State Examination (MMSE) for cognition, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory for behaviour and psychological symptoms of patients, and the Clinical Dementia Rating for dementia severity. QOL‐AD was administered to patients as well as staff members responsible for their care. The protocol and results of the cross‐sectional survey have been reported elsewhere. The follow‐up assessment was performed approximately 3 years after the initial assessment (average: 35.9 ± 5.4 months; mean ± SD), and 42 people (36%) were living in the same facilities at that time. Informed consent was obtained from all participants or their relatives. Of the 42 patients who participated in the follow‐ up, 37 were assessed. It was not possible to interview 5 people because of their poor health. Of the 74 lost during follow‐up, 2 (3%) returned home, 33 (45%) transferred to other facilities, 24 (32%) were hospitalized, and 2 (3%) died. The only significant difference between participants who remained and those lost at follow‐up was age (P < 0.05). Of the 37 patients, 32 completed all assessments. Five were