IPA Press Releases

Prestigious biennial IPA/Bayer Awards focus on life quality and depression, geriatric morbidity in rural India and music as therapy for patients with Alzheimer's and similar dementias.

VANCOUVER, B.C. (Aug. 13, 1999) - A highlight of the ninth IPA international congress will be the recognition of outstanding research in the field of psychogeriatrics.  The awards will be presented in Vancouver Monday, Aug. 16.

One of the principal goals of the International Psychogeriatric Association is fostering research throughout the world.  In support of that worthwhile goal, Bayer AG provides the resources to help IPA encourage, recognize and reward high-quality psychogeriatric research.  Biennially, since 1989, IPA and Bayer have presented the prestigious IPA/Bayer Research Awards for the best original, unpublished research in psychogeriatrics.

Researchers from all cultures and all nations are invited to apply.  Papers must be written in English.  For the 1999 Awards, 43 papers were submitted from 17 nations.

And the winners are:

• FIRST - Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH (Los Angeles - USA) with Donald L. Patrick, PhD, MSPH; Paula Diehr, PhD; Greg Simon, MD, MPH; David Grembowski, PhD; Wayne Katon, MD) for a paper entitled: "Quality adjusted life years in older adults with depressive symptoms and chronic medical disorders."
  
  The researchers compared elderly victims of severe "depression" to those who had many other chronic and debilitating diseases. IPA president Dr. Barry Reisberg, who will present the award, said: "They found that depression had a greater effect on quality of life than such conditions as stroke, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure."
  

• SECOND - Sarvada Chandra Tiwari, MD, MNAMS  (Lucknow - India) - a study of  "Geriatric Psychiatric Morbidity in Rural Northern India – Implications for Future"
  
  Dr. Tiwari's study documents that there are almost 30 million psychogeriatrically ill persons in India, but few resources to treat the problem and little specialty training of the country's professionals. India has made astonishing strides in life expectancy. But Dr. Tiwari says: "We have to realize that adding life to years is more important than adding years to life"
  

• THIRD - Linda A. Gerdner, RN, PhD  (Little Rock, AK - USA) - Research related to "The Effects of Individualized vs. Classical Relaxation Music on the Frequency of Agitation in Elderly Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders"
  
  Most patients suffering from severe dementia go through period of extreme agitation, physically hurting themselves and others. Physical restraint or calming drugs have been the only tools available to caregivers to prevent serious injury, yet studies have demonstrated that keeping a patient strapped in place actually increases the problem and frequency of accidents. Music has long been known to have a calming effect, but Dr. Gerdner - a nurse - questioned common assumptions about types of music. She contrasted conventional classical music with the results from music known to be favored by the individual patient.

The Award-winning papers will be presented during the opening plenary session of the 1999 biennial congress. Winners will be introduced by Dr. Barry Reisberg of New York, IPA President and Chair of the IPA Research Awards Committee.

Background

Participants' prior experience and previous accomplishments are not factors in the awards' decisions.  Winners are chosen based on the merit of the submitted papers.  Previous recipients of the IPA/Bayer awards have included not only well-established leaders in the field, but young researchers just beginning to make their professional mark.  The value of the research is the most important factor considered by the referees, who judge entries in a blind-review process.

In addition to the cash awards, each winner will receive a commemorative medallion as well as a travel and expense stipend enabling them to attend the Congress.  Additionally, the three winning papers will be published in International Psychogeriatrics, IPA's quarterly journal.

Previous IPA/Bayer Research Award Winners

1997
First Place
Steve Simpson, MB Chb., MRCPsych (UK)
Paper: "Subcortical Hyperintensities in Late Life Depression: Acute Response to Treatment
and Neuropsychology Impairment"
(With Robert C. Baldwin, FRCP, FRCPsych, DM; Alan Jackson, MRCP, FRCR, PhD; and Alistair Burns, MD, FRCP, FRCPsych)

Second Place
Michel Bédard, MSc (Canada)
Paper: "Associations Between Dysfunctional Behaviors, Gender, and Burden in Spousal Caregivers of Cognitively Impaired Older Adults"
(With D. William Molloy, MB; David Pedlar, PhD; Judith Lever, RN, MSc(A); and Michael Stones, PhD)

Third Place
Michael Linden, Prof. Dr. med. Dipl.-Psych. (Germany)
Paper: "The Wish to Die in Very Old Persons Near the End of Life: A Psychiatric Problem?"
(With Sven Barnow, Dipl.-Psych.)