Biomaterial Database

Indirect bright light improves circadian rest-activity rhythm disturbances in demented patients. 1997

E J Van Someren, and A Kessler, and M Mirmiran, and D F Swaab

Graduate School of Neurosciences Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Light is known to be an important modulator of circadian rhythms. We tested the hypothesis than an enduring increase in the daytime environmental illumination level improves rest-activity rhythm disturbances in demented patients. Actigraphy was performed before, during, and after 4 weeks of increased illumination in the living rooms of 22 patients with dementia clinically diagnosed as probable Alzheimer's disease, multi-infarct dementia, dementia associated with alcoholism, or normal pressure hydrocephalus. The results indicated that during increased illumination, the stability of the rest-activity rhythm increased in patients with intact vision, but not in visually impaired patients.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D010789	Phototherapy	Treatment of disease by exposure to light, especially by variously concentrated light rays or specific wavelengths.	Blue Light Therapy,Blue-light Therapy,Light Therapy,Photoradiation Therapy,Red Light Phototherapy,Therapy, Photoradiation,Blue Light Therapies,Blue-light Therapies,Light Phototherapies, Red,Light Phototherapy, Red,Light Therapies,Light Therapies, Blue,Light Therapy, Blue,Photoradiation Therapies,Phototherapies,Phototherapies, Red Light,Phototherapy, Red Light,Red Light Phototherapies,Therapies, Blue Light,Therapies, Blue-light,Therapies, Light,Therapies, Photoradiation,Therapy, Blue Light,Therapy, Blue-light,Therapy, Light
D002940	Circadian Rhythm	The regular recurrence, in cycles of about 24 hours, of biological processes or activities, such as sensitivity to drugs or environmental and physiological stimuli.	Diurnal Rhythm,Nyctohemeral Rhythm,Twenty-Four Hour Rhythm,Nycthemeral Rhythm,Circadian Rhythms,Diurnal Rhythms,Nycthemeral Rhythms,Nyctohemeral Rhythms,Rhythm, Circadian,Rhythm, Diurnal,Rhythm, Nycthemeral,Rhythm, Nyctohemeral,Rhythm, Twenty-Four Hour,Rhythms, Circadian,Rhythms, Diurnal,Rhythms, Nycthemeral,Rhythms, Nyctohemeral,Rhythms, Twenty-Four Hour,Twenty Four Hour Rhythm,Twenty-Four Hour Rhythms
D003704	Dementia	An acquired organic mental disorder with loss of intellectual abilities of sufficient severity to interfere with social or occupational functioning. The dysfunction is multifaceted and involves memory, behavior, personality, judgment, attention, spatial relations, language, abstract thought, and other executive functions. The intellectual decline is usually progressive, and initially spares the level of consciousness.	Senile Paranoid Dementia,Amentia,Familial Dementia,Amentias,Dementia, Familial,Dementias,Dementias, Familial,Dementias, Senile Paranoid,Familial Dementias,Paranoid Dementia, Senile,Paranoid Dementias, Senile,Senile Paranoid Dementias
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D006850	Hydrocephalus, Normal Pressure	A form of compensated hydrocephalus characterized clinically by a slowly progressive gait disorder (see GAIT DISORDERS, NEUROLOGIC), progressive intellectual decline, and URINARY INCONTINENCE. Spinal fluid pressure tends to be in the high normal range. This condition may result from processes which interfere with the absorption of CSF including SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE, chronic MENINGITIS, and other conditions. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp631-3)	Hakim Syndrome,Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus,Hakim's Syndrome,Hydrocephalus, Normal-Pressure,NPH (Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus),Hakim Syndromes,Hakim's Syndromes,Hakims Syndrome,NPHs (Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus),Syndrome, Hakim,Syndrome, Hakim's,Syndromes, Hakim,Syndromes, Hakim's
D000368	Aged	A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available.	Elderly
D000369	Aged, 80 and over	Persons 80 years of age and older.	Oldest Old