Actigraphic measurement of agitated behaviour in dementia.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines the correlation between actigraphic measures and a validated assessment scale of agitated behaviour in dementia, the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI).


METHODS
A total of 110 patients were included. Patients either suffered from Alzheimer dementia (AD), mixed dementia (MXD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or diffuse Lewy body disease (DLB). All patients underwent actigraphic recordings for 48 h. CMAI was scored by professional caretakers, who were responsible for the patient during his or her actigraphic recording.


RESULTS
Patients with high total CMAI scores (>or= 50) clearly had higher levels of activity during the day as measured by means of actigraphy than patients with low total CMAI scores (ANOVA, F=126.75, p<0.0001). Patients with low MMSE scores (<20) also had higher activity levels during the day than patients with higher MMSE scores (ANOVA, F= 85.74, p<0.0001). Correlations between ctigraphic data and CMAI total scores were moderate but highly significant.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that actigraphy is a useful tool to examine agitated behaviour in dementia.
Laboratory of Neurochemistry and Behaviour, Institute Born-Bunge, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Guy
G
Nagels
Sebastiaan
S
Engelborghs
Ellen
E
Vloeberghs
Debby
D
Van Dam
Barbara A
BA
Pickut
Peter Paul
PP
De Deyn
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011580:Psychological Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results