Журнал болезни Альцгеймера и паркинсонизма

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Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Alzheimer's Disease Patients: Improving the Diagnosis

Florindo Stella

Neuropsychiatric symptoms have been strongly related to higher risk of cognitive decline, elevated clinical deterioration, increased morbidity and mortality, heavy caregiver burden, and early institutionalization. Patients suffering from dementia may be unable to describe their symptoms to the clinician, and caregivers frequently assume the responsibility to communicate the patient’s behavioral disturbances. However, the caregiver’s emotional distress my interfere with interpretation of the patient’s behavior, compromising the diagnosis accuracy. Accurate assessment is a crucial strategy to diagnose patient’s symptomatology. The aim of this work is to discuss some aspects related to disagreements between the caregiver report and the clinician impression on neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.