On the overlap between apathy and depression in dementia.
BACKGROUND
Whereas apathy is increasingly recognised as a frequent abnormal behaviour in dementia, its overlap with depression remains poorly understood.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the psychometric characteristics of a structured interview for apathy, and to examine the overlap between apathy and depression in dementia.


METHODS
A total of 150 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) underwent a comprehensive psychiatric and cognitive assessment.


RESULTS
Twelve per cent of the sample met criteria for both apathy and depression, 7% met criteria for apathy only, and 31% met criteria for depression only. Apathy (but not depression) was significantly associated with more severe cognitive deficits. Apathy and anxiety scores accounted for 65% of the variance of depression scores in dementia, and the diagnosis of apathy had a minor impact on the rating of severity of depression.


CONCLUSIONS
The Structured Interview for Apathy demonstrated adequate psychometric characteristics. Using a novel structured interview for apathy in AD we demonstrated that whereas the construct of depression primarily consists of symptom clusters of apathy and anxiety, apathy is a behavioural dimension independent of depression.
Starkstein
S E
SE
Raul Carrea Institute of Neurolgical Research, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ses@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Ingram
L
L
Garau
M L
ML
Mizrahi
R
R
D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003710:Demography; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010507:Periodicity; D011594:Psychometrics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index