Incidence and relationship between behavioural and psychological symptoms in Alzheimer's disease

✍ Scribed by Iwona Kloszewska

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 119 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(1998110)13:11<785::aid-gps872>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

Objectives:

To evaluate the frequency and type of psychological and behavioural symptoms in alzheimer's disease (ad) patients in poland, in various stages of the disease.

Method:

One hundred and sixty-nine patients with a diagnosis of probable ad in global deterioration (gds) stages 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of dementia were examined in a search for behavioural and psychological symptoms.

Results:

Behavioural and psychotic symptoms were most often found in gds stages 5 and 6 of ad, except for depressive disorder, which was observed most frequently in gds stage 4 and whose frequently decreased towards the terminal stages of dementia. from an analysis of the relationship between behavioural symptoms in the polish ad patients, the following syndromes may be discriminated: psychotic syndrome (delusions and hallucinations), delusions with aggressive behaviour and hallucinations and anxiety. with more severe dementia, the syndromes, which could be the result of delirium, became more common.

Conclusions:

Diagnosis of delirium should be considered in moderately severe and severe dementia whenever a sudden change in patients' behaviour occurs.