Screening elderly patients in an outpatient ophthalmology clinic for dementia, depression, and functional impairment☆
Section snippets
Patients and methods
Consecutive outpatients seen in the comprehensive and neuroophthalmology clinics of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics were evaluated from January 2001 through March 2001. Inclusion criteria were: all patients more than 64 years of age making visits to the comprehensive eye clinic or the neuroophthalmology clinic at the University of Iowa. Informed consent was obtained from all patients before the administration of the questionnaire in accordance
Results
Fifty patients met inclusion criteria. The reasons that patients were excluded from our study included: refusal to participate in the study (did not sign the informed consent), deemed by the screening physician to be unable to perform the test (e.g., completely blind patients, non–English-speaking patients or otherwise unable to understand directions of informed consent), and incomplete, unsigned consents or illegible or incomplete forms (four patients). Of the 50 questionnaires reviewed, most
Discussion
Screening for depression, dementia, or functional impairment in the elderly may lead to appropriate intervention and improved quality of life. Geriatricians have been performing these screenings for years. The ophthalmology clinic may be an ideal nongeriatric specialty clinic to perform outpatient screening for geriatric syndromes. First, the ophthalmology population tends to be composed of older individuals. Second, there is a relatively high volume of ambulatory patients in an outpatient eye
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Manuscript no. 210643.
Supported in part by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York.