Outcomes of a dementia prevention program of Sufficient Care for the elderly people with comorbidity in hypertension and Diabetics, Sop Prap Hospital, Lampang Province

Abstract

     The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the effects of in the preventive program of Sufficient Care for Dementia (SCD) on the elderly people with comorbidity in hypertension and Diabetics at Sop Prap Hospital in Lampang Province. There were 64 participants in each group that study was on February to August, 2024. The experimental group participated in the preventive program of Sufficient Care for Dementia and the chronic illness clinic on a regular basis, while the control group participated in the chronic disease clinic's routine activities that for four months were dedicated to the research. Then, data was analyzed descriptively by frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and t-test statistics to examine the reference statistics.
     According to the study's findings, 1) the experimental group's average age was 70 years old, the most of them (96.9 percent) had family caregivers living with the patients, 10.9 percent smoked, 26.6 percent drank alcohol, and 57.8 percent exercised less than three times per week. The control group had an average age of 68.6 years, almost all of them (95.3 percent) was lived with family caregivers, 56.3 percent exercised less than three times per week, 39.1 percent drank alcohol, and 6.3 percent still smoked. The prevalent comorbidities in the experimental and control groups were present in both the experimental and control groups such as hyperlipidemia, chronic kidney failure, cataracts or retinal degeneration, osteoarthritis, and coronary artery disease. 2) The results of the comparison of clinical outcomes before and after the research for 4 months within the experimental group found that the experimental group's scores for dementia and cognitive impairment were significantly better than before the study (P-value <.001), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) improved significantly (P-value <.001). Similarly, the control of chronic diseases found that the control of blood pressure, HbA1C, blood sugar, cholesterol, and LDL after the study decreased significantly (P-value <.001). Finaly, 3) After four months of research, comparison of clinical results between the experimental group and the control group, it was found that the average score of cognitive impairment of the experimental group was significantly better than the control group (P-value <.001). The blood sugar level and systolic blood pressure of the experimental group were significantly better than the control group (P-value <.013) and (P-value <.024), respectively. While the dementia score, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), HbA1C, blood sugar, cholesterol, and LDL level were not found statistical significant in the experimental group and the control group.