[Neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia syndrome]

The aim of this study was to describe the neuropsychiatric disorders that present in dementia and the differences they show at each stage as the disease progresses.

The study involved a total of 175 patients from a psychogeriatric clinic who had been diagnosed as suffering from dementia at distinct stages of the disease: 66 had mild dementia, 56 were with moderate dementia and 53 were suffering from severe dementia. The following instruments were used to collect both socio demographic and clinical data: the Spanish version of the Mini Mental State Examination (miniexamen cognitivo: MEC) for cognitive impairment, the Barthel index for functional deterioration and the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) for the non cognitive symptoms.

There were no significant differences in the NPI according to the degree of cognitive impairment and the most frequently seen symptoms were anomalous motor activity, apathy and irritability; the neuropsychiatric disorder that was least often present was euphoria. The presence of disinhibition, irritability, depression, hallucinations and anomalous motor activity varied significantly in the different phases of dementia. Thus, disinhibition, irritability and depression were more frequent in the initial stages of the disease whereas hallucinations and anomalous motor activity were seen more often when the cognitive impairment was severe.

Neuropsychiatric disorders appear throughout the whole course of dementia and symptoms vary according to the stage of the disease.