The effect of paracetamol on care dependency and daily functioning in persons with advanced dementia living in long-term care facilities

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the total group, stratified by randomization group

	Paracetamol-placebo N = 46	Placebo-paracetamol N = 48	P value
Mean age (SD) in years	83.8 (7.5)	83.9 (7.7)	0.964^*
Female (%)	26 (56.5)	28 (58.3)	0.859^**
GDS score (%)
5 6 7	2 (4.3) 34 (73.9) 10 (21.7)	6 (12.5) 32 (66.7) 10 (20.8)	0.157^ 0.443^ 0.915^**
FCI (SD)	2.9 (2.0)	2.5 (2.1)	0.420^*
CDS (SD)	39.7 (13.7)	36.0 (11.9)	0.171^*
Katz-15 (SD)	11.5 (2.5)	12.3 (2.2)	0.100^*
Pain (MOBID-2 ≥ 3) (%)	15 (33.3)	15 (31.3)	0.830^**
MOBID-2 overall pain intensity (SD)	2.0 (2.4)	2.3 (3.0)	0.531^*
Psychotropic use (%)	29 (60.4)	17 (37.0)	0.023^**

^*Unpaired t-test
^**χ² test
SD = standard deviation; GDS score = Global deterioration Scale (stage of dementia); FCI = Functional Comorbidity Index (0–18; higher score means more comorbidity); MOBID-2 = Mobilization-Observation-Behaviour-Intensity-Dementia-2 pain scale (0–10; ≥ 3 means clinically significant pain); CDS = Care Dependency Scale (15–75; higher score means less care dependency); Katz-15 (0 = 15; higher score means more help needed with tasks)

ISSN: 1471-2318