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Early behavioral symptoms and course of Alzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
Weiner M. F.,
Hynan L. S.,
Bret M. E.,
White C.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2004.00472.x
Subject(s) - apathy , aggression , asymptomatic , mood , cognition , disease , psychology , dementia , alzheimer's disease , medicine , psychiatry , clinical psychology
Objective: To determine if behavioral symptoms detected at initial evaluation relate to cognitive or functional status or survival time in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Method: Review, in 100 cases of autopsy‐proven AD, of the relationship of behavioral symptoms detected at initial evaluation to cognitive and global function measures and survival time. Results: Behavioral symptoms had occurred in 74% of patients, including apathy (51%), hallucinations (25%), delusions (20%) and depressed mood (6.6%). Verbal aggression was common (36.8%); physical aggression less so (17%). The symptomatic group was more functionally (but not cognitively) impaired and had shorter median survival time (8 years: 95% CI: 7–9 years vs. 10 years: 95% CI: 8–12 years; P = 0.002) than the asymptomatic group. The presence of any one symptom at initial evaluation accounted for 6.1% of the variance in duration of illness. Conclusion: Presence of behavioral symptoms at initial evaluation of AD patients is associated with greater functional impairment and shorter survival time.