Page 38 - Petelin, Ana. 2021. Ed. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 38
avje starostnikov | health of the elderly 36 that the DEMMI test has satisfactory psychometric characteristics for assess-
ing older adults with cognitive decline.
The Slovenian version of the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) was used
to assess cognitive function. A 30-point questionnaire assessed orientation, at-
tention, memory, language and visual-spatial skills. According to the score
obtained, the patients were divided in three groups: intact cognition (20 – 24
points), mild cognitive impairment (23 – 19 points), moderate cognitive impair-
ment (18 – 11 points) and severe cognitive impairment (10 points or less) (Gran-
da et al., 2003).
Physiotherapy treatment was customised according to individual’s needs
and abilities. It included individual exercises, strength exercises, and exercis-
es to improve static and dynamic balance and coordination, transfer training
and walking training. Tests and physiotherapy treatment were performed on
the premises of the Gerontopsychiatric Unit of the University Psychiatric Clin-
ic Ljubljana. For each patient, mobility was assessed twice; firstly before enrol-
ment in physiotherapy treatment and secondly after 14 days of physiotherapy
treatment.
The anonymised data used in the study was obtained from physiothera-
py treatment records. The Commission for Ethical Issues at the University Psy-
chiatric Clinic Ljubljana approved the use of data on the 24th of May 2021. The
protection of personal data has been ensured. It was used for research and pub-
lishing purposes only.
The data was edited in Microsoft Office Excel 2016 (Microsoft Corpora-
tion, New York, USA) and exported for statistical analysis to IBM SPSS Statis-
tics for Windows 25.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York, USA). Descrip-
tive statistics were given as count (with percentage) or mean (with standard
deviation). Shapiro-Wilk test showed the data distribution of the first (p =
0.018) and second (p = 0.026) DEMMI test was abnormal. To determine the dif-
ferences between the first and second DEMMI test the Wilcoxon test was used.
Statistical significance was set at p-value < 0.05.
Results
In the period between October 2020 and April 2021, 146 patients were tested
twice. More precisely, 55 patients (38 %) were enrolled to physiotherapy treat-
ment.1 patient (2 %) was younger than 60, 16 patients (29 %) did not conclude
MMSE or MMSE did not confirm cognitive decline, 4 patients (7 %) experi-
enced exacerbation of chronic disease or acute health deterioration. The re-
maining 34 patients (62 %) were divided into three groups according to the de-
gree of cognitive impairment: mild cognitive impairment (17 patients, 50 %),
moderate cognitive impairment (12 patients, 35 %) and severe cognitive impair-
ment (5 patients, 15 %).
Table 1 shows there were 25 women (73.5 %) and 9 men (26.5 %) includ-
ed in the sample. All three groups had similar representation of women and
ing older adults with cognitive decline.
The Slovenian version of the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) was used
to assess cognitive function. A 30-point questionnaire assessed orientation, at-
tention, memory, language and visual-spatial skills. According to the score
obtained, the patients were divided in three groups: intact cognition (20 – 24
points), mild cognitive impairment (23 – 19 points), moderate cognitive impair-
ment (18 – 11 points) and severe cognitive impairment (10 points or less) (Gran-
da et al., 2003).
Physiotherapy treatment was customised according to individual’s needs
and abilities. It included individual exercises, strength exercises, and exercis-
es to improve static and dynamic balance and coordination, transfer training
and walking training. Tests and physiotherapy treatment were performed on
the premises of the Gerontopsychiatric Unit of the University Psychiatric Clin-
ic Ljubljana. For each patient, mobility was assessed twice; firstly before enrol-
ment in physiotherapy treatment and secondly after 14 days of physiotherapy
treatment.
The anonymised data used in the study was obtained from physiothera-
py treatment records. The Commission for Ethical Issues at the University Psy-
chiatric Clinic Ljubljana approved the use of data on the 24th of May 2021. The
protection of personal data has been ensured. It was used for research and pub-
lishing purposes only.
The data was edited in Microsoft Office Excel 2016 (Microsoft Corpora-
tion, New York, USA) and exported for statistical analysis to IBM SPSS Statis-
tics for Windows 25.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York, USA). Descrip-
tive statistics were given as count (with percentage) or mean (with standard
deviation). Shapiro-Wilk test showed the data distribution of the first (p =
0.018) and second (p = 0.026) DEMMI test was abnormal. To determine the dif-
ferences between the first and second DEMMI test the Wilcoxon test was used.
Statistical significance was set at p-value < 0.05.
Results
In the period between October 2020 and April 2021, 146 patients were tested
twice. More precisely, 55 patients (38 %) were enrolled to physiotherapy treat-
ment.1 patient (2 %) was younger than 60, 16 patients (29 %) did not conclude
MMSE or MMSE did not confirm cognitive decline, 4 patients (7 %) experi-
enced exacerbation of chronic disease or acute health deterioration. The re-
maining 34 patients (62 %) were divided into three groups according to the de-
gree of cognitive impairment: mild cognitive impairment (17 patients, 50 %),
moderate cognitive impairment (12 patients, 35 %) and severe cognitive impair-
ment (5 patients, 15 %).
Table 1 shows there were 25 women (73.5 %) and 9 men (26.5 %) includ-
ed in the sample. All three groups had similar representation of women and
