Old Age Psychiatry Flashcards
Changes in the worlds population from 2000-2050?
Worlds population >60 years will double from 11% to 22%
By how much is the absolute number of people >60 years of age expected to increase?
From 605 million to 2 billion from 2000-2050
How many people in the UK are >65?
One sixth of the population
10 million
How many people are expected to be >65 years of age in the UK in 2050?
19 million
1/4 of the population
How many people in the UK are over 80?
3 million
What does the national Service Framework for older people (2001) state?
Older people with MH problems should have access to specialist services
What does Everybodys Business (2005) state?
Older people’s MH problems require input from both health and social care, physical and MH services and mainstream and specialist services.
What does No Health Without Mental Health (2011) state?
Services should be age appropriate non discriminatory
Needs based criteria for Older Peoples MH Services for commissioners by RcPsych?
People of any age with primary dementia
People with MI and physical illness or frailty, which contribute or complicate management of their MI
People with psychosocial difficulties related to ageing process or EoL issues or who feel their needs may be best met by a service for older people
What % of carers suffer from depression at some stage?
30%
What are the 10 key points from JCPMH guidance for commissioners of older peoples MH services?
Older people will form a larger proportion of the population
Older peoples MH services benefit from an integrated approach with social care
Older peoples MH services need to work closely with primary care and community services
Services must be commissioned on basis of need and not age alone
Older peoples MH services must address needs of people with functional illness as well as dementia
Older people often have a combination of MI and physical illness
Older peoples MH services must be disciplinary
Older people with MH needs should have access to community CRHTTs
Older people with MH needs respond well to psychological input
Older people should have dedicated liaison services in acute hospitals
What domains need to be taken into account when assessing an older adult with MH problems?
Cognitive assessment
Functional abilities
Physical health issues and how these impact on MH
Role of imaging in dementia daignosis
Assessment of carer needs and holistic approach to care
Physical examination
Assessment of capacity issues
Why is medication regimen and timing so important in Parkinsons?
Failure can result in delirium, depression, slowed cognition and anxiety
How many patients with PD have depression?
2/3
How many patients with PD develop dementia?
40%
Common cognitive deficits in Parkinsons?
Higher executive dysfunction Attention Memory Visuomotor processing Visual attention
How many patients with stroke have delirium?
30-40% after one week
Which diseases commonly result in Charles Bonnet?
Macular Degeneration
Cataracts
Diabetic retinopathy
Which diseases are associated with psychotic sx in the elderly?
Auditory impairment
How do metabolic changes during illness accentuate emotional response to it?
Dehydration Electrolyte imbalance Endocrine changes Infection can all produce affective sx
How common is depression in people with chronic physical health problems?
2-3 times more common
How many patients with chronic physical illness will have depression?
20%
First line treatment for depression in chronic physical illness
SSRI - keep in mind interactions
Intracranial reversible causes of dementia
Normal pressure hydrocephalus
Subdural haematoma
Cerebral tumours
Tertiary syphilis
Systemic disorders which can cause reversible dementia
Alcoholism Anoxia Low BM Myxoedema Vitamin deficiencies Drug or chemical poisoning Pseudodementia Renal/hepatic disease
How many diagnosis of dementia are due to young onset of dementia?
12%
How can alcohol use lead to dementia?
Damage to limbic structures and frontal lobes leading to memory and executive impairments
Which impairment in alcohol-induced dementia can improve with abstinence?
Memory impairment
Which type of memory is affected in alcohol-induced dementia?
Autobiographical
What does neuroimaging show in alcohol-induced dementia?
Generalised cerebral atrophy with frontal preponderance
What happens in normal pressure hydrocephalus?
Dilatation of cerebral ventricles - usually 3rd ventricle, with normal CSF pressure at P.
Triad of sx of normal prssure hydrocephalus?
Dementia
Gait ataxia
Urinary incontinence
Population prevalence of NPH in the elderly
0.4%
Which sx precedes all others in NPH?
Mildly broad based, symmetrical short stepped gait
What type of dementia occurs in NPH?
Progressive slowing of cognitive and motor functioning consistent with pattern of subcortical dementia
What is the pattern of subcortical dementia?
Pronounced slowness of thought
Difficulties in sustaining, switching attention
Difficulties in planning
How many cases of NPH are idiopathic?
50%
What are 50% of NPH non-idiopathic cases due to?
Mechanical obstruction of CSF flow across meninges due to infection, trauma, SAH etc
Which sx is late sx of NPH?
Urinary incontinence
What does CT show in NPH?
Increased size of lateral ventricles and thinning of cortex
Treatment of NPH
Surgical placement of ventriculo-peritoneal shunt
Which sx is most likely to improve with treatment of NPH?
Gait impairment
What is related to good outcome of NPH?
Mild dementia
Why are subdural veins more vulnerable to tears in the elderly?
Cortical shrinking
When should subdural haematoma (SDH) be suspected?
Changing pattern in cognitive function with risk factors
Risk factors for SDH
Post trauma - elderly after fall, HI Cerebral atrophy Alcoholism Epilepsy Clotting disorders Predisposing drugs such as Warfarin, Aspirin
How many SDH cases have bilateral SDH?
30%
How many patients with SDH have a history of HI?
50%
Common features of SDH
Headache
Drowsiness
Altered consciousness
Confusion - fluctuating severity
What does CT show in SDH
Crescent shaped haematoma compressing sulci and midline shift
When might CT not show a SDH?
First 3 weeks as clot is isodense during early phase
Treatment of SDH
Surgical - burr holes
Conservative - steroids
Complications of surgical treatment of SDH
Seizures
Re-bleeding
Mortality of SDH
10%
Which patients with SDH have highest mortality?
Depressed consciousness level
Bilateral SDH
How does Huntingtons dementia present?
Frontal dementa
movement disorder
Prominent deficits in Huntingtons dementia?
Attention Semantic verbal fluency Processing speed Executive function Recall more affected than recognition
Key diagnostic test for dementia in MS
MRI
Problem with MRI scan in elderly with MS
Distinguishing between demyelination and vascular damage can be difficult in the elderly
How is diagnosis of dementia in MS confirmed?
CSF and evoked potentations
Where is Prion protein coded?
PRNP gene on Chromosome 20
When does prion disease occur?
When protein undergoes changes which render it insoluble
Which diseases are caused by prions?
Spongiform encephalopathies - transmissible dementias
What are the four forms of prion dementia?
Kuru
CJD
Fatal familial insomnia
Gerstmann Straussler Syndrome
Worldwide prevalence of sporadic CJD
0.1 per 100,000
Which prion disease is most common?
CJD
What causes CJD?
Pathological form of prion protein PrPsc
What is the normal form of the prion protein?
PrPc
Difference between PrPc and PrPsc
PrPsc is resistant to proteases, thus leading to accumulation and rapid degenerative changes
Onset of CJD
After 5th decade but can occur at any age
Clinical picture of CJD
Rapidly deteriorating dementia Myoclonus Cortical blindness Cerebellar and EPSE Death within one year
When do fulminant sx develop in CJD?
Within weeks
Which sign becomes prominent as CJD progresses?
Myoclonus
How many CJD cases are sporadic?
85%
How many CJD cases are genetic?
10%
How many cases of CJD result from iatrogenic transmission of transplant surgery?
5%
What types of transplant surgery can lead to CJD?
Transplant of dura, corneal grafts and pituitary growth home
What does CT show in CJD?
Atrophy of cortex, worse centrally
Atrophy of cerebellum
What does MRI show in CJD?
Non-specific basal ganglia hyperintensities
What does EEG show in CJD
Periodic bi or triphasic discharges against slight low voltage background
In which type of CJD is EEG change not seen?
Variant CJD
CSF findings in CJD
14-3-3 protein elevated.
What is 4-3-3?
Normal neuronal protein
Definitive diagnosis of CJD
Post-mortem microscopic exam:
spongiform neural degeneration and gliosis throughout cortical and subcortical grey matter, sparing white matter tracts
Treatment of CJD
Symptomatic; valproate and clonazepam to reduce movement disorder
What is vCJD?
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
What is Bongine Spongiform Encephalopathy?
Prion disease of cows caused by cattle feeds that contained CNS material from infected material.
Incubation period between ingestion of contaminated meat and development of vCJD?
<20 years
Who does vCJD typically affect?
Men in 20s
Characteristics of vCJD?
Anxiety and depressive sx
Personality changes
Progressive dementia
Ataxia and myoclonus
Course of vCJD
1-2 years followed by death
What is diagnostic of vCJD?
Pulvinar sign; symmetric high-signal-intensity changes affecting pulvinar and medial areas of thalamus and tectal plate on FLAR sequence in MRI
How many patients with vCJD had pulvinar sign
> 70%
Does CSF in vCJD show 14-3-3 protein?
Yes
Aside from MRI, how else can vCJD be diagnosed?
Immunostaining from tonsillar biopsy
EEG in vCJD?
No distinctive changes, sometimes diffuse slow waves
Most common Dementia in the developed world?
Alzheimers
Onset of Alzheimers
40-90
Most often >65
Predicted risk of developing Alzheimers in first-degree relatives
15-19%
5% in controls
Relative risk of Alzheimers if you have a first-degree relative with the disease?
3-4 times relative to the risk in controls
Risk of Alzheimers at the age of 60
1%
Risk of Alzheimers at age of 65
5%
Risk of Alzheimers at age 85
40%
How does risk of Alzheimers correlate with age?
Doubles every 5 years
Risk of people >75 for Alzheimers vs Vascular Dementia
Risk is 6x greater for alzheimers than for Vascular DEmentia