Abstract
The Physical state, neurological deficits, presence of behavioral problems and walking ability have been evaluated for 176 old residents entering a nursing home managed in Shizuoka city. Their ages at the time of this survey ranged from 61 to 107 years with a mean of 80.1 years. There were 41 men and 135 women. There were 78 demented elderly residents (44.3 %), and 66 non-demented elderly residents (37.5 %) . It was difficult to evaluate the intelligence of the others, because of verbal communication disorders such as chronic aphasia or pseudobulbar palsy. The incidence of dementia increased with age and was highest in the nineties. Urinary incontinence was the most frequent neurological deficit in both the demented and non-demented residents. The demented residents had various behavioral problems such as soliloquy, wandering, and hallucination. Behavioral problems were also observed among a few of the non-demented residents. The neurogical deficits of the residents in the nursing home were classified into five categories : 1) degenerative or cerebrovascular dementia, 2) Parkinsonism, 3) pseudo-bulbar palsy, 4) chronic stage of aphasia, 5) slowly progressing decrease of motivation or spontaneity without dementia. Of the demented residents, 20 % developed deterioration of their walking ability after entering the home. In most of the non-demented residents, however, walking ability was retained for at least 5.2 years after entering.
