ArticleInternational journal of geriatric psychiatry2010
Impact of ambient bright light on agitation in dementia.
Article in International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of light therapy on sleep disorders and psychobehavioral symptoms in patients with Alzheimer's disease: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2023Pooled it
- Physical environmental designs in residential care to improve quality of life of older people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Dementia Enlightened?! A Systematic Literature Review of the Influence of Indoor Environmental Light on the Health of Older Persons with Dementia in Long-Term Care Facilities.Clinical interventions in aging · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Light therapy for improving cognition, activities of daily living, sleep, challenging behaviour, and psychiatric disturbances in dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- The effects of bright light treatment on affective symptoms in people with dementia: a 24-week cluster randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Cellular- and systems-level profiling of amyloid-beta effects on circadian timing.Neurobiology of disease · 2026Article
- Cellular- and systems-level profiling of amyloid-beta effects on circadian timing.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Sleep in neurodegenerative diseases: A focus on melatonin, melanin-concentrating hormone and orexin.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- An interpretable machine learning tool for in-home monitoring of agitation episodes in people living with dementia: a proof-of-concept study.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Investigating the effects of indoor lighting on measures of brain health in older adults: protocol for a cross-over randomized controlled trial.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Examining the Relationships Between Indoor Environmental Quality Parameters Pertaining to Light, Noise, Temperature, and Humidity and the Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of People Living With Dementia: Scoping Review.Interactive journal of medical research · 2024Article
- Timed Activity to Minimize Sleep Disturbance in People With Cognitive Impairment.Innovation in aging · 2024Article
- Residential Environments for Older Persons: A Comprehensive Literature Review (2005-2022).HERD · 2023Review
- Agitation and aggression in people living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment in shared-housing arrangements - validation of a German version of the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory-Short Form (CMAI-SF).Health and quality of life outcomes · 2023Article
- Effect of Ambient Bright Light on Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms in People With Dementia: A Systematic Review.Innovation in aging · 2022Review
- A timed activity protocol to address sleep-wake disorders in home dwelling persons living with dementia: the healthy patterns clinical trial.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- Sleep-Based Interventions in Alzheimer's Disease: Promising Approaches from Prevention to Treatment along the Disease Trajectory.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Pilot Study of the Effects of Bright Ambient Therapy on Dementia Symptoms and Cognitive Function.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- The Treatment of Sleep Dysfunction in Neurodegenerative Disorders.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the effect of ambient bright light therapy (BLT) on agitation among institutionalized persons with dementia.
methodsHigh 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).
resultsAnalyses 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.
conclusionsAmbient bright light is not effective in reducing agitation in dementia and may exacerbate this behavioral symptom.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.