Vascular burden, biomarkers and neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) are commonly seen in individuals with dementia and can often worsen outcomes. Therefore, there is a need for an increase in the understanding of the factors at interplay with NPSs, such as neurobiology. The objective of this study was to examine how vascular burdens and dementia biomarkers are linked to NPSs. Patients with dementia in outpatient services were included in the study. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was used to evaluate NPSs. Vascular burdens were represented by clinical vascular diseases, and the severity of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) was assessed using Fazekas score in brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Additionally, ApoE genotypes and visual ratings of medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) in brain MRI imaging were used to represent dementia biomarkers. Altogether, forty-five patients with dementia were enrolled in this study, with the majority of dementia types being AD (80%), followed by Vad (8.9%), DLB (8.9%), and FTD (2.2%). The results revealed that depression symptoms were associated with vascular diseases (p = 0.03). Additionally, anxiety symptoms (p = 0.03) and the depression/apathy cluster (p = 0.03) were correlated with MRI Fazekas score. For dementia biomarkers, agitation was associated with ApoE ε4 (p = 0.02).Our findings revealed that individual NPSs such as depression and anxiety, as well as the NPSs cluster of depression/apathy, correlated with vascular burden. Additionally, agitation was associated with ApoE ε4.