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Published on: July 27, 2018
Actigraphic measurement of agitated behaviour in dementia
Guy Nagels1, Sebastiaan Engelborghs, Ellen Vloeberghs
1Laboratory of Neurochemistry and Behaviour, Institute Born-Bunge, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Objectives:
This study examines the correlation between actigraphic measures and a validated assessment scale of agitated behaviour in dementia, the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI).
Methods:
A total of 110 patients were included. Patients either suffered from Alzheimer dementia (AD), mixed dementia (MXD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or diffuse Lewy body disease (DLB). All patients underwent actigraphic recordings for 48 h. CMAI was scored by professional caretakers, who were responsible for the patient during his or her actigraphic recording.
Results:
Patients with high total CMAI scores (>or= 50) clearly had higher levels of activity during the day as measured by means of actigraphy than patients with low total CMAI scores (ANOVA, F=126.75, p<0.0001). Patients with low MMSE scores (<20) also had higher activity levels during the day than patients with higher MMSE scores (ANOVA, F= 85.74, p<0.0001). Correlations between ctigraphic data and CMAI total scores were moderate but highly significant.
Conclusion:
We conclude that actigraphy is a useful tool to examine agitated behaviour in dementia.
