Validity and reliability of the newly translated Hellenic Neuropsychiatric Inventory (H-NPI) applied to Greek outpatients with Alzheimer's disease: a study of disturbing behaviors among referrals to a memory clinic.
BACKGROUND
No rating scales of the neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have previously been developed or translated.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a Hellenic translation of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), to evaluate it's reliability and validity, and to compare NPI results in Greek patients referred to a neuropsychiatry clinic for either of two reasons: disturbing behaviors evoking embarrassment and disturbing behaviors evoking fear in the caregiver.


METHODS
The Hellenic translations of the NPI, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and Emotional Distress Scale (EDS) were compared in evaluating 29 consecutive referrals of patients with AD.


RESULTS
The Hellenic NPI (H-NPI) demonstrated a high degree of internal consistency reliability, and of concurrent validity when compared to the BPRS or the EDS. Patients referred for behaviors evoking embarrassment presented with higher scores on NPI ratings of apathy. However, patients referred for behaviors evoking fear presented with higher scores on NPI ratings of aggression and irritability.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that the H-NPI is a reliable instrument, able to detect differences in clinically referred groups of AD patients.
Politis
Antonis M
AM
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Mayer
Lawrence S
LS
Passa
Maria
M
Maillis
Antonis
A
Lyketsos
Constantine G
CG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity