Gender-dependence of substituted judgment on quality of life in patients with dementia

Abstract

Abstract Background Substituted judgment asks the proxy to decide what the patient would have decided, had he or she been competent. It is unclear whether substituted judgment of the patient's quality of life can serve as a surrogate measure in patients with dementia. Methods 212 patients with dementia and their proxies were interviewed in their homes. Dementia syndrome was characterized with cognitive, non-cognitive and functional scales. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed with the QoL-AD. Results Substituted judgment of the patient's QoL was unrelated to dementia severity but also correlated with the proxie's own QoL (r = 0.356; p Conclusion Substituted judgment of the patient's QoL does not correlate with dementia severity. Substituted judgment is subject to proxy-related variables in a gender-dependent fashion and therefore not suited to serve as an appropriate surrogate of the patients' quality of life.