Objectives

To assess whether a dementia care coordination intervention delays time to transition from home and reduces unmet needs in elders with memory disorders.

Design

18-month randomized controlled trial of 303 community-living elders.

Setting

28 postal code areas of Baltimore, MD. Participants: Age 70þ years, with a cognitive disorder, community-living, English-speaking, and having a study partner available. Intervention: 18-month care coordination intervention to systematically identify and address dementia-related care needs through individualized care planning; referral and linkage to services; provision of dementia education and skill-building strategies; and care monitoring by an interdisciplinary team. Measurements: Primary outcomes were time to transfer from home and total percent of unmet care needs a 18 months.

Results

Intervention participants had a significant delay in time to all cause transition from home and the adjusted hazard of leaving the home was decreased by 37% (Hazard ratio: 0.63, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.42e0.94) compared with control participants. Although there was no significant group difference in reduction of total percent of unmet needs from baseline to 18 months, the intervention group had significant reductions in the proportion of unmet needs in safety and legal/advance care domains relative to controls. Intervention participants had a significant improvement in self-reported quality of life (QOL) relative to control participants. No group differences were found in proxy-rated QOL, neuropsychiatric symptoms, or depression.

Conclusions

A home-based dementia care coordination intervention delivered by non-clinical community workers trained and overseen by geriatric clinicians led to delays in transition from home, reduced unmet needs, and improved self-reported QOL