INTRODUCTION:
Neuropsychiatric symptoms occur in 80-90% of patients with dementia, interfere significantly in the patient's autonomy and cause high physical, financial and emotional tribulation to the family nucleus, leading to early institutionalization.
OBJECTIVES:
Identifying neuropsychiatric symptoms more frequent and more severe in patients who are Alzheimer's disease carriers; specifying which disturbs cause more anxiety on caregivers, and correlating neuropsychiatric symptoms.
METHODS:
Sectional, descriptive and exploratory study was conducted during one year, with elders who might have Alzheimer's disease and were attended as outpatients of a philanthropic institution in Vitoria city and were accompanied by the main caregiver. Two Brazilian subscales of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory were applied to the companions, and the symptoms were correlated using Pearson and Spearman's correlations.
RESULTS:
In the 50 patients analyzed, aberrant motor behavior was the most common manifestation, while agitation was more severe among patients and was reported as the worst symptom by caregivers, who were predominantly daughters. Multiple correlations were found between symptoms, being very strong: delirium and hallucination, delirium and anxiety, delirium and dysphoria, agitation and irritability.
CONCLUSION:
Results reinforce the need for studies aimed at approaching neuropsychiatric manifestations, due their high prevalence and the presence of concomitant symptoms that generate high degree of anxiety among caregivers.
Alzheimer's Disease; Elderly; Neuropsychiatric Symptoms
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
