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. 2010 Oct;25(10):1013-21.
doi: 10.1002/gps.2453.

Impact of ambient bright light on agitation in dementia

Ann Louise Barrick  1 , Philip D Sloane, Christianna S Williams, C Madeline Mitchell, Bettye Rose Connell, Wendy Wood, Susan E Hickman, John S Preisser, Sheryl Zimmerman
Affiliations

Impact of ambient bright light on agitation in dementia

Ann Louise Barrick et al. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of ambient bright light therapy (BLT) on agitation among institutionalized persons with dementia.

Methods: High intensity, low glare ambient lighting was installed in activity and dining areas of a state psychiatric hospital unit in North Carolina and a dementia-specific residential care facility in Oregon. The study employed a cluster-unit crossover design involving four ambient lighting conditions: AM bright light, PM bright light, All Day bright light, and Standard light. Sixty-six older persons with dementia participated. Outcome measures included direct observation by research personnel and completion by staff caregivers of the 14-item, short form of the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI).

Results: Analyses of observational data revealed that for participants with mild/moderate dementia, agitation was higher under AM light (p = 0.003), PM light (p < 0.001), and All Day light (p = 0.001) than Standard light. There was also a trend toward severely demented participants being more agitated during AM light than Standard light (p = 0.053). Analysis of CMAI data identified differing responses by site: the North Carolina site significantly increased agitation under AM light (p = 0.002) and PM light (p = 0.013) compared with All Day light while in Oregon, agitation was higher for All Day light compared to AM light (p = 0.030). In no comparison was agitation significantly lower under any therapeutic condition, in comparison to Standard lighting.

Conclusions: Ambient bright light is not effective in reducing agitation in dementia and may exacerbate this behavioral symptom.

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Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors have a conflict of interest or any financial agreement with any company that gave support to this research.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Probability of observing agitation for an average* resident, by dementia severity and treatment condition *Average resident defined as one with a value of 0 for the resident random effect
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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