Effect of Circadian Light on Hospitalized Persons With Dementia and Older Adults With Cognitive Impairments.

Light stimulates the human visual system and the biological functions in the retina, also referred to as non-visual responses, e.g. hormone production. Exposure to the correct light composition can produce acute alertness and increase good sleep quality (1). In this study, subjects will be exposed to 24-hour LED naturalistic lighting (intervention) or traditional lighting (control) during all days of hospitalization. Subjects will be blinded to the intervention as they will not be told if they are admitted to an intervention patient room or a control patient room. The primary outcome measure is cortisol levels measured in saliva samples. Secondary outcome measures are delirium rates, length of admission, use of constant observation, mortality and adverse advent. It is estimated that 80 subjects will be included in the study.