Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important indicator of how a patient perceives hi/her own physical and mental status. Evaluating this dimension in old age patients which are institutionalized for neurocognitive disorders is useful from several perspectives: (1) determination of an initial value for HRQOL parameters could help the case manager in structuring an individualized therapeutic intervention, adapted for psychological, somatic or psychosocial needs of each patient; (2) monitoring the evolution of HRQOL dimensions could help in improving through feedback the quality of therapeutic intervention(s), especially if the case manager is permanently in contact with the patient, as is usually the case of institutionalized subjects; (3) correlation between HRQOL and other important variables, like therapeutic adherence, regression of comorbidities, daily functioning etc. could modulate the therapeutic intervention. We suggest a plan for HRQOL evaluation in institutionalized patients diagnosed with neurocognitive disorder, consisting in monthly scoring of SF-36 or EuroQoL questionnaire, corroborated with MMSE and ADAS-Cog scoring. Psychotherapeutic interventions tailored to the needs identified through HRQOL periodic evaluations could be useful in this population, for example a perceived isolation could be compensated by increasing the rhythm of social interaction by group therapy under the direction of a counsellor, a reduced self-efficacy could be compensated by activation techniques, music or art-therapy, while dissatisfaction with own memory capacities could be mitigated using reminiscence therapy. Switching from a paternalistic way of perceiving the patient as the object of an intervention, to a more interactive style of communication, involves obtaining feed-back through HRQOL instruments.Disclosure of interestCOI: The presenting author was speaker for Bristol Myers Squibb and Servier, and participated in clinical research funded by Janssen Cilag, Astra Zeneca, Eli Lilly, Sanofi Aventis, Schering Plough, Organon, Bioline Rx, Forenap, Wyeth, Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, Dainippon Sumitomo.
Feeling good in old age: factors explaining health-related quality of life