title: [Incidence and importance of "non-cognitive" symptoms in dementia of the Alzheimer type: productive psychotic symptoms, depressive disorders and behavioral disorders].
abstract: A semi-structured interview was administered to the closest relatives of 50 patients with presenile or senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. The disturbances most frequently reported were: wandering/pacing (56%, cumulative percentage), aggressive behavior (44%) and - significantly related to more severe stages of dementia - apathy/loss of drive (58%), eating disturbances (46%) and disturbances of the sleep-waking cycle (32%). Depressive symptoms were observed in 58% of the patients, preferentially in the early stages of illness with preserved insight. Signs of paranoid delusions (46%), delusional misidentification (34%), visual (32%) and auditory hallucinations (16%) were encountered temporarily in a large number of patients. The importance of "non-cognitive" symptoms in Alzheimer's disease is underlined by their subjective significance for the caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit, Sonderforschungsbereich 258, Mannheim.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sattel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Geiger-Kabisch
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schreiter-Gasser
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Besthorn
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Förstl
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001037:Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002194:Capgras Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment