title: Verbal aggression in Alzheimer's disease. Clinical, functional and neuropsychological correlates.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the clinical, functional and neuropsychological correlates of verbal aggression in Alzheimer's disease in a group of consecutive first attendees to a memory clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  150 people were evaluated and diagnosed as suffering with probable Alzheimer's disease. These people were tested using the Behave-AD for the presence of verbal aggression, delusions, depression and agitation. They were also assessed with cognitive, functional and neuropsychological scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-eight per cent of this group of Alzheimer patients had exhibited some verbal aggression in the preceding month. Male gender (p = 0.022), the presence of paranoid and delusional ideation (p = 0.003) and agitation (p = 0.042) were significantly associated with verbal aggression in a stepwise backward logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of verbal aggression should prompt the clinician to search for delusional ideation, which may respond to pharmacotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Mercer's Institute for Research in Ageing, St. James's Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland. mira@stjames.ie
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eustace
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kidd
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fallon
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Bhrain
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coen
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Coakley
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Lawlor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000374:Aggression; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation; D014705:Verbal Behavior