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Laura K Chiodo

Publications and source records attributed to Laura K Chiodo.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

An empiric approach to level of care determinations: the importance of executive measures.

BACKGROUND: The ability to predict the level of care received by elderly retirees was compared in a discriminant model and using a classification tree derived from cognitive and noncognitive variables. Methods. Participants were 193 residents (mean age, 79.1+/-5.1 years) of a single, 1,500-bed, continuing care retirement community. They were given a battery of cognitive measures that included tests of general cognition, memory, and executive control function. A multivariate discriminant model of level of care was compared with a classification tree. RESULTS: Residents in congregate high-rises (n=115) differed significantly from those in apartment settings (n=78) with respect to age, Executive Interview (EXIT 25), and the Executive Clock-Drawing Task (CLOX). Only age and executive control function measures (CLOX1, EXIT 25, and Trail Making Test Part B [Trails B]) contributed independently to a discriminant model of level of care (Wilke's lambda=0.92; F [df 4,170]=3.48; p <.01). Sixty-three percent of participants were correctly classified. A classification tree derived from the same variable set was more accurate (75% correctly classified). Age, CLOX1, and EXIT 25 made the most important contributions to the model. The EXIT 25 and CLOX1 thresholds empirically derived from this model coincide with the fifth percentiles for these instruments in a young adult sample. CONCLUSIONS: Executive control function appears to be most responsible for the effect of cognition on level of care. Young adult norms may be most relevant when the effects of cognitive impairment on functional status are assessed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Executive control mediates memory's association with change in instrumental activities of daily living: the Freedom House Study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the relative independent contribution of changes in executive control function (ECF) and memory to changes in functional status. DESIGN: Three-year longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: A comprehensive care retirement community. PARTICIPANTS: Five hundred forty-seven noninstitutionalized people aged 70 and older. MEASUREMENTS: The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and Executive Interview (EXIT25). Functional status was assessed using instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Latent growth curves of CVLT, EXIT25, and IADLs were modeled. The rate of change in IADLs (adjusted for baseline IADLs and cognition) was regressed on the rate of change in each cognitive measure. Models were also adjusted for baseline age, level of care, and comorbid illnesses. RESULTS: There was significant variability around the baseline means and slopes for all variables. The rate of change in EXIT25 was independently correlated with the rate of change in IADLs (correlation coefficient (r)=-0.52, P<.001). This remained significant after adjusting for baseline EXIT25 scores, IADLs, age, comorbid disease, and level of care. The EXIT25's effect on the rate of change in IADLs was stronger than those of age, baseline IADLs, comorbid disease, or level of care. The rate of change in CVLT scores was not significantly associated with the rate of change in IADLs. CONCLUSION: ECF is a strong, significant, and independent correlate of functional status in normal aging. In contrast, decline in memory, as measured using the CVLT, has no independent association with the rate of change in functional status. This suggests that amnestic mild cognitive impairment can be associated with dementia only though the subsequent or comorbid development of ECF impairment.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2004

Declining executive control in normal aging predicts change in functional status: the Freedom House Study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the contribution of executive control function (ECF) to functional status. DESIGN: Three-year longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: A comprehensive-care retirement community. PARTICIPANTS: Five hundred forty-seven noninstitutionalized septuagenarians. MEASUREMENTS: The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Executive Interview (EXIT25). Functional status was assessed using instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Latent growth curves of MMSE, EXIT25, and IADL were modeled. The rate of change in IADLs (DeltaIADL), adjusted for baseline IADLs and cognition, was regressed on the rate of change in each cognitive measure (adjusted for baseline cognition). Models were also adjusted for baseline age, level of care, and comorbid illnesses. RESULTS: Baseline test scores were within normal ranges, but mean EXIT25 scores reached the impaired range by the second follow-up. There was significant variability around the baseline means and slopes for all variables. The rate of change in EXIT25 was strongly correlated with DeltaIADL (r=-0.57, P<.001). This remained significant after adjusting for baseline EXIT25 scores, IADLs, age, comorbid disease, and level of care. The effect of the EXIT25 on DeltaIADL was stronger than those of age, baseline IADLs, comorbid disease, or level of care. The rate of change in MMSE scores was not significantly associated with DeltaIADL. CONCLUSION: ECF is a significant and independent correlate of functional status in normal aging. Traditional dementia case finding is likely to underestimate cognition-related disability. Neither a normal baseline MMSE score nor stable MMSE scores over time preclude functionally significant changes in ECF.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2003

Executive dyscontrol in normal aging: normative data, factor structure, and clinical correlates.

Although there is ample evidence of frontal system dysfunction in old age, the clinical significance of these impairments has not been well studied. In this article, we examine the factor structure of putative executive measures in a sample of well elderly subjects. Three stable factors emerged, but only one was associated with measures of functional status. This factor was most strongly associated with relatively simple bedside executive measures that might prove useful in dementia screening. In contrast, a second factor, dominated by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, was weakly associated with disability. These data suggest that certain executive measures may be more relevant to functional outcomes, and hence dementia case finding, than others. Moreover, associations with functional status should not be casually extrapolated from regional frontal clinical correlations, particularly with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

The patient with Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease is an idiopathic, slowly progressive disorder of the central nervous system characterized by resting tremor, muscular rigidity, slow and decreased movement (bradykinesia), and postural instability. In the United States, Parkinson's disease is the fourth most common neurodegenerative disorder in the elderly, affecting an estimated half a million people. Oral health care providers can expect to be called upon to care for patients with this progressively debilitating disease. To provide competent care to patients with Parkinson's disease, clinicians must understand the disease, its treatment, and its impact on the patient's ability to undergo and respond to dental care.

Burning Mouth Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Decline in learning ability best predicts future dementia type: the Freedom House Study.

The authors studied longitudinal change in learning efficiency as a predictor of future dementia type among healthy, well-educated, noninstitutionalized elderly retirees. Serial assessments of memory were obtained using the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Latent growth (LG) models were developed from the slopes of the subjects' performance over the first five CVLT learning trials at each of three serial administrations (e.g., cohort inception [i.e., baseline] [CVLT1], 18 months [CVLT2] and 36 months [CVLT3]). The resulting growth curves were incorporated into a higher order LG model representing the dynamic change in learning efficiency over time (DeltaCVLT). DeltaCVLT was used to predict each subject's "dementia type" (i.e., clinical state) at 36 months (e.g., no dementia, Type 1 [Alzheimer type] dementia or Type 2 [non-Alzheimer type] dementia), after adjusting for CVLT1, baseline age, and baseline dementia type. Nonlinear (logarithmic) LG models of CVLT1-CVLT3 and DeltaCVLT best fit the data. There was significant variability about both CVLT1 and DeltaCVLT, suggesting subgroups in the sample with significantly different baseline memory function, and different rates of deterioration in learning efficiency. Age, baseline dementia type, and DeltaCVLT made significant independent contributions to final dementia type. CVLT1 did not predict final dementia type independently of the other covariates. These data suggest that baseline memory performance in noninstitutionalized elderly retirees does not predict future dementia type independently of the dynamic rate of change in memory measures. Serial administrations of memory tests may help identify nondemented persons at greater or lesser risk for conversion to frank dementia in the near-term.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Misclassification is likely in the assessment of mild cognitive impairment.

We estimated the relative frequency of isolated memory impairment versus isolated and comorbid impairment in executive control function (ECF). One hundred and ninety-three noninstitutionalized residents of a single Comprehensive Care Retirement Community (mean age 79.2 years) were investigated. The subjects were tested with multiple measures of memory and ECF. Test scores were standardized to minimize scaling effects. 'Impairment' was defined as performance < or =1.5 standard deviations below the mean for the entire sample (i.e., a z score < or =-1.5). Disability was estimated as the sum of self-reported activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. The cognitive test performance was significantly associated with functional impairment, independently of age. ECF and memory measures were significantly intercorrelated. Both were significantly and independently associated with disability ratings. 6-10% of the subjects had memory impairment; 25-35% of the memory-impaired subjects had comorbid ECF impairments. An additional 4-7% of the subjects had isolated ECF impairment. A significant fraction of the cases otherwise meeting the criteria for 'mild cognitive impairment' may have comorbid ECF impairment. This raises the issue of whether they might be more properly classified as 'demented'. In addition, isolated ECF impairment may affect almost as many persons as isolated memory impairment. Isolated ECF impairment is not consistent with the natural history of preclinical Alzheimer's disease, suggests other conditions, and can be disabling, independently of age and/or memory loss.

Aged↗