Physical aggression among nursing home residents is cause for concern

About 88,000 (6.8 percent) of U.S. nursing home residents are physically aggressive every week – hitting, shoving, scratching or sexually abusing others, according to a recent study by the Archives of Internal Medicine, Medicalnewstoday.com reported. This aggression can inflict physical and psychological harm on staff and other residents. Verbal aggression, when residents threaten, scream or curse at others, also can cause difficulties.

"Physical or verbal aggression among nursing home residents with cognitive impairment may be a major cause of distress among staff and other residents injured by the aggressor, as well as to the aggressor," the study concludes. "We found that aggressive behavior among residents was associated with depression, delusions and hallucinations, and that physical aggression was also associated with constipation.

All of these factors may be amenable to intervention and, in addition to reducing the morbidity associated with these entities themselves, effective treatment may reduce the risk of violence in nursing homes."