Punding in dementia: an insight into its occurrence, clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcome

This study investigates punding in dementia, its characteristics, treatment options, and outcomes.

In this retrospective hospital-based study of 55 dementia patients, punding severity, cognition, and neuropsychiatric symptoms assessed using Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease-Rating Scale, Hindi Mental Status Examination, and Neuropsychiatric Inventory were collected from baseline to week 8 after treatment. Chi-square and independent t-tests were used to compare groups and repeated measures ANOVA was used to investigate the change in rating scale scores on treatment.

The mean age of the patients was 72.8 ± 6.7 years, and 76.4% were of Alzheimer's disease. The frequency of punding in this hospital-based cohort was 61.8%. The mean duration of punding was 4.09 + 2.7 months, and repeated handling of clothes was the prominent characteristic. The patients were treated with low-dose risperidone and SSRI and significant improvement in the severity scores of punding was observed following treatment initiation.

Punding is a prevalent behavior in hospitalized patients with dementia. Rapid improvement in punding behavior was observed with combination pharmacotherapy of low dose SSRI and risperidone in our clinical sample. Further multicentric prospective controlled trials are required to establish treatment efficacy of this combination treatment for punding in dementia.