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Changes in neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregivers’ distress in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in 12 months

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

M. Yassuda  and
T. Lima-Silva
M. Yassuda*
Affiliation:
University of São paulo, Gerontology, São Paulo, Brazil
T. Lima-Silva
Affiliation:
University of São paulo, Gerontology, São Paulo, Brazil
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

In behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) neuropsychiatric symptoms are a significant concern as they impact care management and caregiver wellbeing.

Objectives

To describe change in individual neuropsychiatric symptoms and associated caregivers’ distress assessed by the Neuropsychiatry Inventory (NPI) in patients diagnosed with bvFTD and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from baseline to a 12-month follow-up.

Methods

The sample consisted of 31 patients diagnosed with bvFTD and 28 patients with AD and their caregivers. The NPI and the Addenbrooke´s Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) were applied. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon test, Chi square (χ2) were used.

Results

At baseline, significantly higher scores were observed for the bvFTD group for: agitation, disinhibition and eating disturbances. The latter two were also higher in the NPI Distress subdomains. At followup, there were significantly higher scores for the bvFTD group in agitation, disinhibition, eating disturbances, hallucination and irritability. For the NPI Distress subdomains, agitation, eating disturbances and hallucination scores were significantly higher for the bvFTD group.

Conclusions

In 12 months, neuropsychiatric symptoms increased in both bvFTD and AD groups. However, NPI subdomain and caregiver distress scores were statistically higher among bvFTD patients at both assessment points. Neuropsychiatric symptoms may be associated with care burden in bvFTD and should be a focal point in care management decisions.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

behavioral dementia frontotemporal (bvFTD)Alzheimer´s diseaseagingNeuropsychiatric symptoms
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S176
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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