Investigating the Prevalence and Predictors of Apathy among the Canadian Long-Term Care Residents: A Secondary Data Analysis.
Aderonke Agboji, Shannon Freeman, Davina Banner and 2 others
PMID 39195952WHAT IT FOUND
Apathy was identified in 12.5% of 157,596 newly admitted Canadian long-term care residents.
Severe cognitive impairment, sensory problems, weight loss, and facility factors were linked to higher odds.
Key findings
01Apathy was identified in 12.5% of the 157,596 Canadian long-term care residents included in the analysis.
02Severe cognitive impairment was the strongest psychological predictor of apathy, with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.60.
03Apathy was more common among residents with low social engagement (23.3%) than among those with high engagement (7.1%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional and uses existing administrative data, so it cannot show whether apathy caused the associated factors or the factors came first. Apathy was measured with only two MDS 2.0 items, withdrawal from activities and reduced social interaction, so emotional and cognitive aspects of apathy were not captured. The MDS 2.0 data were not collected primarily for clinical diagnosis or research, which may limit nuanced examination of relationships. Only six provinces and one territory were included, so the results may not apply to all Canadian long-term care settings. There is an inconsistency in the speech-related result: the Discussion reports speech impairment with adjusted odds ratio 1.14 and p < 0.0001, but Table 2 lists 'uses speech to communicate' as adjusted odds ratio 0.93 (95% CI 0.83 to 1.04), p = 0.1955.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations as evidence that treating these factors will reduce apathy. This is a cross-sectional secondary analysis, and the paper does not test an intervention.