Version 1
: Received: 12 March 2023 / Approved: 13 March 2023 / Online: 13 March 2023 (04:10:28 CET)
How to cite:
MD, E.P.D. An Audit of Geriatric Capacity Assessments Performed in a General Psychiatry Unit over a Decade. Preprints2023, 2023030212. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0212.v1
MD, E.P.D. An Audit of Geriatric Capacity Assessments Performed in a General Psychiatry Unit over a Decade. Preprints 2023, 2023030212. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0212.v1
MD, E.P.D. An Audit of Geriatric Capacity Assessments Performed in a General Psychiatry Unit over a Decade. Preprints2023, 2023030212. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0212.v1
APA Style
MD, E.P.D. (2023). An Audit of Geriatric Capacity Assessments Performed in a General Psychiatry Unit over a Decade. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0212.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
MD, E.P.D. 2023 "An Audit of Geriatric Capacity Assessments Performed in a General Psychiatry Unit over a Decade" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0212.v1
Abstract
Geriatric decisional capacity assessment is a complex medico-legal activity that evaluates normal subjects involved in specific civil matter like wealth transfer, access to treatment or voluntary hospitalization. Our objective was to evaluate how geriatric extrajudicial capacity exams impacted a general psychiatric unit over a decade. We also assessed the value of a surrogate biomarker (neutrophils to lymphocyte ratio) as a screening factor in the capacity assessment process. 72 cases were assessed in one psychiatric unit over a decade (2009-2018). As population was fast ageing, the total number of capacity exams per year doubled in time. None of the subjects had an active diagnostic of severe cognitive impairment or active psychiatric disease. The percentage of subjects receiving an “absence of capacity” conclusion remained constant over time (approx. 20% of all cases). 81% of the subjects within this subgroup had a clinical diagnostic of mild cognitive impairment compared to 46% in the “presence of capacity” subgroup (p<0.001). The surrogate biomarker neutrophils to lymphocyte ratio was significantly higher in the “absence of capacity” subgroup, mainly related to a cognitive impairment diagnostic. The ratio has to be validated by larger studies before to be included in the capacity assessment process as an early screening tool.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
