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Negative symptoms, depression and Alzheimer's disease
Martine Vercelletto1, Florence Martinez, Sophie Lanier
1Clinique Neurologique, CHU Nord, Nantes, France. mvercelletto@chu-nantes.fr
Objectives:
To apply the negative symptoms (NS) concept used in schizophrenia to patients with AD, to compare the results with the frontal lobe perfusion in ethyl cysteinate dimmer (ECD) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and with the apolipoprotein E genotype.
Method:
32 patients with a diagnosis of probable AD were assessed by the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS-N), the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Scale (MADRS), the NeuroPsychiatric Inventory (NPI), and the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE). Each patient underwent ECD SPECT and APO E genotyping. PANSS-N, MADRS, NPI, and MMSE were administered to 19 normal elderly control subjects.
Results:
The mean PANSS-N score for AD patients (20.56, SD: 8, range: 7-40) was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of controls (7, SD: 0). MADRS scores were not significantly different (p = 0.75) between AD patients (9.03, SD: 6.14, range: 0-25) and controls (6.2, SD: 3.61, range: 1-15). The NPI apathy score (0-12) was correlated with PANSS-N (p < 0.001). Correlation between prominent frontal hypoperfusion (six cases) and NS was at the limit of significance. No relation was found between epsilon E4 and NS.
Conclusion:
This consideration is important in distinguishing between depression and AD.