A randomized, controlled trial of bright light therapy for agitated behaviors in dementia patients residing in long-term care.

Aug 10, 1999International journal of geriatric psychiatry

Bright light therapy for reducing agitation in dementia patients living in long-term care: a controlled trial

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗

Abstract

Patients receiving bright light therapy (BLT) increased nocturnal sleep from a mean of 6.4 hours/night to 8.1 hours/night after 4 weeks.

Bright light therapy may improve nocturnal sleep in dementia patients residing in chronic care settings.
Statistically significant improvements in sleep duration were observed in patients receiving BLT compared to those in dim light.
No significant differences were found in agitated behaviors or other outcome measures between BLT and control conditions.
Only eight out of fifteen patients completed the entire study, indicating potential limitations in participant retention.

AI simplified

BACKGROUND: Agitated behaviors are common in dementia patients residing in chronic care settings. Their occurrence may be associated with lack of adequate exposure to sunlight and with circadian rhythm disturbances.

OBJECTIVE: Prior research has suggested that bright light therapy (BLT) may reduce agitated behaviors in dementia patients. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of BLT in a randomized, controlled, crossover clinical trial.

METHOD: Fifteen patients with dementia and agitated behaviors residing in a chronic care facility were randomized in a crossover design to morning BLT for 1 hour per day or to a control condition with dim light exposure. Patients were treated in either condition for 4 weeks, followed by 1 week on no treatment, prior to being crossed over to the other condition.

RESULTS: Eight out of 15 patients completed the entire study. The rest completed at least 2 weeks of study. Patients randomized to the BLT condition exhibited a statistically significant improvement in nocturnal sleep from a mean of 6.4 hours/night to 8.1 hours/night 4 weeks later (p<0.05). The sleep of patients in the control condition did not improve significantly. There were no other significant differences between baseline and follow-up, nor between BLT and control treated patients on the other outcome measures, which included the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer Disease scale (Behave-AD) and the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia.

CONCLUSION: Patients with dementia in chronic care who exhibit agitated behaviors sleep more hours at night when administered morning BLT. However, BLT does not lead to improvements in agitated behaviors in institutionalized patients with dementia with non-disturbed sleep-wake cycles.

A randomized, controlled trial of bright light therapy for agitated behaviors in dementia patients residing in long-term care.

Abstract

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief