Nursing homes that screen residents for excess daytime sleepiness (EDS) may be able to predict mortality risk, a new study finds. The condition is also linked with age-related comorbidities in people who reside in long-term care communities, according to the study published in the October issue of JAMDA.
Researchers looked at data from 550 older adults who lived in 12 nursing homes in South Australia.The mean age of the residents was 87.7 years old. The team used resident interviews, observations and reviewed medical records to obtain data. The researchers also used the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), which measures levels of sleepiness.
The study finds that people in nursing homes with EDS are more likely to experience malnutrition, a higher mean number of falls in the last year, heart failure and severe dementia. People who had mild-to-moderate EDS were more likely to have a myocardial infarction, heart failure and be on multiple medications. Those with severe EDS were more likely to have a higher mean number of falls in the previous year compared to those without it. Of the residents, 20.7% died a year after they started assessing data. Those individuals had higher mean ESS scores.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating that EDS has an independent impact on the one-year survival of older adults living in nursing homes,” the authors said.
The authors pointed out that other research on community-dwelling older adults found that EDS was linked with falls, low physical activity, functionality issues, cardiovascular risk factors, malnutrition, speech issues, depression, cognitive impairment and poor self-rated health.
The researchers would like to see more research on the short- to mid-term effects of potentially reversible markers on adverse outcomes in this population, including EDS. The researchers also called on nursing homes to screen people for EDS so they can better anticipate their needs and potentially prevent adverse outcomes or death.
The study updates initial research on EDS from the same team that was published in April 2023.
