A NARRATIVE REVIEW OF THE MANAGEMENT OF BEHAVIORAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS OF DEMENTIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
Nimitha K J ◽  
Shailendra Mohan Tripathi ◽  
Porimita Chutia ◽  
Pooja Misal

Dementia is a chronic or progressive neurodegenerative condition which is organic in origin. There will be impairment of thinking, memory orientation, comprehension, language, calculation, and judgement. Alzheimer's disease facts and gures in 2021 according to Alzheimer's association shows Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60% to 80% of the total cases. Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia also known as neuropsychiatric symptoms are a group of symptoms with behavioural and psychological manifestations. Disturbances include behavioural symptoms like wandering, hoarding, physical aggression, sexually disinhibition, culturally inappropriate behaviour, agitation and psychological symptoms like apathy, depression, anxiety, delusions, and hallucinations, sundowning, elation. Scales like the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, the Behavioural Pathology in Alzheimer Disease rating scale, the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer Disease Behaviour Rating Scale for Dementia, Dementia Behaviour Disturbance scale, and the Neurobehavioral Rating Scale can be utilized to recognise BPSD.Neuropsychological assessment also have an important role. Non-pharmacological methodologies contain different sorts of treatment: tactile stimulation, pressure point massage, fragrant healing, light treatment, garden exercises, music therapy, dance therapy, and Snoezelen multisensory therapy, psychological strategies of multicomponent treatment strategies. Broadly focussing on sensory stimulation, social activities, structural activities, behavioural activities, environmental activities, and training programmes. Pharmacological treatment includes antipsychotics, mood stabilizers and antidepressants in treating BPSD, and cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine for the situation of Alzheimer's dementia sedative/hypnotics for sleep issues. Treatment can be further categorized based on individual NPS like agitation, psychosis, apathy, depression, sleep problems and other symptoms. Future treatment which has less evidence as of now includes rTMS, TDCS and Photo biomodulation therapy

Author(s):  
David Conn ◽  
Lilian Thorpe

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (mood, psychotic, and behavioural) are very common in dementia and do not necessarily correlate well with other measures of cognition. However, these symptoms are of great importance, as they are a major source of excess disability, patient distress and caregiver burden and have great impact on the level of care required, and the associated costs. This paper is a review of the most useful outcome measures for behaviour and mood symptoms. Investigators who require a comprehensive instrument to measure neuropsychiatric symptoms in studies of patients with dementia should consider using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), the Behavior Rating Scale for Dementia of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERADBRSD) or, possibly, the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (BEHAVE-AD). The Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and the Dementia Mood Assessment Scale (DMAS) are recommended for evaluating depressive symptoms and the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) is very useful for evaluating the full range of agitation symptoms.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weidong Pan ◽  
Qiudong Wang ◽  
Shin Kwak ◽  
Yu Song ◽  
Baofeng Qin ◽  
...  

We evaluated the effects of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Shen-Zhi-Ling oral liquid (SZL) on the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Among 98 patients with AD and BPSD enrolled (mean age, 57.2 ± 8.9 years old), 91 (M = 55,F = 36; mean age, 57.2 ± 9.7 years old) completed the study. Patients took either SZL (n=45) or placebo granules (n=46) in a double-blind manner for 20 weeks while maintaining other anticognitive medications unchanged. Changes in BPSD between week 0, week 10, week 20, and week 25 were assessed using the behavioral pathology in Alzheimer’s disease (BEHAVE-AD) rating scale and the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI), detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) represented by diurnal activity (DA), evening activity (EA), and nocturnal activity (NA) according to actigraphic recordings. SZL but not placebo oral liquid delayed the development of BPSD significantly according to the changes in some of the clinical scores and the EA and NA parameters of DFA at week 20 compared with week 0. No side effects were observed in laboratory tests. The results indicate that SZL might delay the development of BPSD in AD patients and thus is a potentially suitable drug for long-term use.


2020 ◽  
pp. 107385842094094
Author(s):  
Saak V. Ovsepian ◽  
Jiri Horacek ◽  
Valerie B. O’Leary ◽  
Cyril Hoschl

Although neurocognitive deficit is the best-recognized indicator of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), psychotic and other noncognitive symptoms are the prime cause of institutionalization. BACE1 is the rate-limiting enzyme in the production of Aβ of AD, and one of the promising therapeutic targets in countering cognitive decline and amyloid pathology. Changes in BACE1 activity have also emerged to cause significant noncognitive neuropsychiatric symptoms and impairments of circadian rhythms, as evident from clinical trials and reports in transgenic models. In this study, we consider key characteristics of BACE1 with its contribution to neurocognitive deficit and other psychiatric symptoms of AD. We argue that a growing list of noncognitive mental impairments related to pharmacological modulation of BACE1 might present a major obstacle in clinical translation of emerging therapeutic leads targeting this protease. The adverse effects of BACE1 inhibition on mental health call for a revision of treatment strategies that assume indiscriminate inhibition of this key protease, and stress the need for further mechanistic and translational studies.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Panza ◽  
Davide Seripa ◽  
Grazia D'Onofrio ◽  
Vincenza Frisardi ◽  
Vincenzo Solfrizzi ◽  
...  

Neuropsychiatric symptoms, previously denominated as behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, are common features of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are one of the major risk factors for institutionalization. At present, the role of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene in the development of neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD patients is unclear. In this paper, we summarized the findings of the studies of neuropsychiatric symptoms and neuropsychiatric syndromes/endophenotypes in AD in relation to APOE genotypes, with special attention to the possible underlying mechanisms. While some studies failed to find a significant association between APOE and neuropsychiatric symptoms in late-onset AD, other studies reported a significant association between the APOE ε4 allele and an increase in agitation/aggression, hallucinations, delusions, and late-life depression or anxiety. Furthermore, some negative studies that focused on the distribution of APOE genotypes between AD patients with or without neuropsychiatric symptoms further emphasized the importance of subgrouping neuropsychiatric symptoms in distinct neuropsychiatric syndromes. Explanations for the variable findings in the existing studies included differences in patient populations, differences in the assessment of neuropsychiatric symptomatology, and possible lack of statistical power to detect associations in the negative studies.


2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Shah ◽  
Nalini Ellanchenny ◽  
Guk-Hee Suh

Background: There is a paucity of cross-cultural studies of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).Method: BPSD were examined in consecutive series of referrals to a psychogeriatric service in Korea and the U.K. using the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease (BEHAVE-AD) rating scale and the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD). Results were analyzed separately for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.Results: Koreans in both diagnostic groups had lower Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) scores and higher BEHAVE-AD total and subscale scores for most subscales. In both countries, for both diagnostic groups, the total BEHAVE-AD score and several subscale scores were negatively correlated with the MMSE scores. Logistic regression analysis for Alzheimer's disease revealed that BEHAVE-AD total and most subscale scores independently predicted the country of origin in addition to the MMSE scores predicting the same.Conclusions: These differences in BPSD are most likely explained by the lower MMSE scores in the Korean sample. However, genuine differences in BPSD between the two countries can only be critically examined in a cross-cultural population-based epidemiological study for both diagnostic categories using validated instruments to measure BPSD and controlling for the influence of MMSE score.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Pinto ◽  
R. Seethalakshmi

Background: Differential patterns of brain lesions in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or vascular dementia (VaD) can result in differing clinical courses and presentations.Method: Thirty patients with AD were compared with 29 patients with VaD for differences in behavioral symptoms using the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease (BEHAV-AD) rating scale.Results: Patients with AD had significantly more delusions, hallucinations, anxieties and phobias and caregiver distress than patients with VaD.Conclusions: Behavioral symptoms in both AD and VaD exhibit specific longitudinal patterns. An understanding of the pattern can aid the treating physician in giving appropriate advice to caregivers regarding the course of the illness and also help them in planning appropriate interventions.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. B. Svansdottir ◽  
J. Snaedal

Background: Music therapy is a potential non-pharmacological treatment for the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, but although some studies have found it to be helpful, most are small and uncontrolled.Methods: This case–control study was carried out by qualified music therapists in two nursing homes and two psychogeriatric wards. The participants were 38 patients with moderate or severe Alzheimer's disease (AD) assigned randomly to a music therapy group and a control group.Results: The study showed a significant reduction in activity disturbances in the music therapy group during a 6-week period measured with the Behavior Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Rating Scale (BEHAVE-AD). There was also a significant reduction in the sum of scores of activity disturbances, aggressiveness and anxiety. Other symptoms rated by subscales of the BEHAVE-AD did not decrease significantly. Four weeks later the effects had mostly disappeared.Conclusions: Music therapy is a safe and effective method for treating agitation and anxiety in moderately severe and severe AD. This is in line with the results of some non-controlled studies on music therapy in dementia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 357-367
Author(s):  
Miguel Germán Borda ◽  
Alberto Jaramillo-Jimenez ◽  
Diego A Tovar-Rios ◽  
Daniel Ferreira ◽  
Elkin Garcia-Cifuentes ◽  
...  

Background: Hippocampal atrophy is presented in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Cognition, dual-tasks, muscular function, goal-related behaviors and neuropsychiatric symptoms are linked to hippocampal volumes and may lead to functional decline in activities of daily living. We examined the association between baseline hippocampal subfield volumes (HSv) in mild AD and DLB, and functional decline. Materials & methods: 12 HSv were computed from structural magnetic resonance images using Freesurfer 6.0 segmentation. Functional decline was assessed using the rapid disability rating scale score. Linear regressions were conducted. Results: In AD, HSv were smaller bilaterally. However, HSv were not associated with functional decline. Conclusion: Functional decline does not depend on HSv in mild AD and DLB.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiane Garcia da Costa Armentano ◽  
Cláudia Sellitto Porto ◽  
Sonia Maria Dozzi Brucki ◽  
Ricardo Nitrini

Abstract Executive deficits as well as deficits in episodic memory characterize the initial phases of Alzheimer Disease (AD) and are clinically correlated to neuropsychiatric symptoms and functional loss. Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment present more problems as to inhibitory response control, switching and cognitive flexibility. Objective: To compare performance on the BADS with performance on other executive functional tests among patients with mild Alzheimer's disease, Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) to performance of control individuals and to examine discriminative capacity of BADS among these groups. Methods: The BADS was performed by 35 healthy controls, 13 patients with aMCI, and 16 mild probable AD patients. Besides performing the BADS, subjects underwent neuropsychological evaluation which comprised: the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), verbal fluency by phonemic categories (F.A.S) and Concentrated Attention Test (CA). Results: There were no differences among groups by educational level, but performance differed for age (p<0.01). No difference between healthy controls and aMCI patients was found on total scores or subitems of the BADS. A significant difference was observed between aMCI and AD patients (p<0.05) and between controls and AD patients (p<0.05) on total and standard scores. Conclusions: Performance on the BADS differed between healthy individuals and mild AD patients. The BADS proved to be a sensitive method for discriminating AD from aMCI.


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