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The effects of counseling spouse caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease taking donepezil and of country of residence on rates of admission to nursing homes and mortality
Brodaty H, Mittelman M, Mittelman M, Gibson L, Seeher K, Burns A.. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2009-09-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Objective Does psychosocial intervention for caregivers whose spouses with Alzheimer disease (AD) are taking donepezil delay nursing home (NH) placement or death of patients? Design Randomized controlled trial with 2 years of active treatment and up to 8.5 years of follow-up (mean: 5.4 years, SD: 2.4). Setting Outpatients of research clinics in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participants One hundred and fifty-five persons with AD and their spouses. Intervention Five sessions of individual and family counseling (+ prn ad hoc counseling) or usual care. Measurements Time to institutionalization and death using Cox proportional hazards methods. Results Over a mean of 5.4 years (SD: 2.4), there were no differences in NH placement or mortality by intervention group, but there were by country, with Australian patients admitted to NHs earlier than U.S. than U.K. patients. Conclusion Earlier NH admission of Australian compared to U.K. and U.S. subjects may be due to differences in health care, NH systems, availability, and affordability.
Key findings
- Results Over a mean of 5.4 years (SD: 2.4), there were no differences in NH placement or mortality by intervention group, but there were by country, with Australian patients admitted to NHs earlier than U.S. than U.K. patients.
- Conclusion Earlier NH admission of Australian compared to U.K. and U.S. subjects may be due to differences in health care, NH systems, availability, and affordability.
Why it matters
This trial found that counseling spouse caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease did not delay nursing home placement or death compared with usual care. It does not show any effect on treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Study designrandomized controlled trial
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 59/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial. Scored zero for sample size and effect reported because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: journal h-index 178 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2009 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 50 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 1 / 5 | 2.6 citations a year over 19 year(s) since 2009 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 4.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 1 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 3 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Alistair S. Burns: h-index 96 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | New York University: institution h-index 1,612 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 3 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 19705519) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 59 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181a65187
- PubMed: 19705519
- Original source →
- Free full text: PubMed Central →
Full text: free to read — PubMed Central lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 10 Oct 2026).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Brodaty, H., Mittelman, M., Gibson, L., Seeher, K., & Burns, A. (2009). The effects of counseling spouse caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease taking donepezil and of country of residence on rates of admission to nursing homes and mortality. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181a65187
Vancouver
Brodaty H, Mittelman M, Gibson L, Seeher K, Burns A. The effects of counseling spouse caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease taking donepezil and of country of residence on rates of admission to nursing homes and mortality. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. 2009. doi:10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181a65187. PMID: 19705519.
BibTeX
@article{brodaty2009-19705519,
author = {Brodaty, H. and Mittelman, M. and Gibson, L. and Seeher, K. and Burns, A.},
title = {{The effects of counseling spouse caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease taking donepezil and of country of residence on rates of admission to nursing homes and mortality}},
journal = {The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181a65187},
pmid = {19705519},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181a65187}
}
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