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Biomedical subjects

C D Pond

Publications and source records attributed to C D Pond.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Neuropsychological functioning and sleep patterns in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE: To discover whether reported sleep-wake disturbances in the elderly (more frequent nocturnal awakenings, earlier waking and more day time naps) are associated with neuropsychological dysfunction. DESIGN AND SETTING: A sample of 124 residents of a retirement village complex were interviewed about their sleep patterns and given neuropsychological assessments. Reported sleep-wake difficulties were combined to form two variables, "night sleep" and "day sleep". Additional sleep variables analysed were reported sleep duration and time of wakening. Principal components analysis of the neuropsychological test scores yielded four factors: "general ability", "memory", "motor", and "cerebral efficiency". MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A correlation analysis was performed for sleep variables, neuropsychological factors and age, mood scale and scores on indices of participation in physical and passive activities. RESULTS: There was no correlation between "night sleep" and the factor scores derived from the neuropsychological tests. "Day sleep" was correlated with "cerebral efficiency" only. Age was correlated with the "memory" and "motor" factors, the latter also being associated with participation in physical activities. CONCLUSION: Night sleep problems are not associated with neuropsychological deficits in a non-clinic population.

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PubMed1990

Dementia and abnormal breathing during sleep.

We have examined a group of cognitively impaired elderly people who already showed some increase in indices of sleep-disordered breathing and applied standard criteria for dementia to them. This resulted in a subgroup of truly demented subjects who showed significantly more abnormal breathing during sleep than either normal subjects or those whose cognitive impairment may not have been due to a dementing illness.

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PubMed1990

Recognition of depression in the elderly: a comparison of general practitioner opinions and the Geriatric Depression Scale.

As part of a larger study, 133 subjects aged 70 years and over were screened for depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale, a 30-item questionnaire, as the screening instrument. Cognitive status was assessed using the Mini Mental State Examination. The subject's own general practitioner was asked his/her opinion as to whether the subject was depressed. Poor agreement was found between depression as measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale and the general practitioner's assessment. Possible reasons for this include the difficulty of finding a satisfactory operational definition of depression for use by general practitioners, the problems of identifying depression in the elderly, the arbitrary definition provided by the scale and the confounding of depression, as measured by the scale, with cognitive status.

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PubMed1990

Use of medications by the elderly.

Our study confirms that multiple medications are frequently taken by relatively healthy residents of a retirement village, the more so when they are less socially active during the day, and when they are living in hostel accommodation. There were few drug combinations that caused a potential interaction, suggesting that safe use of medication by the elderly should be an achievable goal.

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