Recommendations concerning neuropsychiatric symptoms assessment.
In the last decades, there has been an increased awareness of the importance of neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia, as they are highly frequent, put a large burden on the caregiver, and often may lead to early institutionalization. Whereas dementia is still principally defined as a cognitive disorders, neuropsychiatric symptoms are now regarded as an intrinsic aspect of dementia and neurodegenerative processes. The question to be addressed here is what neuropsychiatric assessments should be used in long term trials adhering a disease modifying approach to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). An ideal marker should be valid, be measured reliably, be highly sensitive to change, have a clear correlation with the progression of disease, and have a clear relationship with the neuropathological substrate. In addition, the marker should address particularly the early stages of AD, preferably the prodromal predementia stages.
University Hospital of Maastricht / Alzheimer Centre Limburg, PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, the Netherlands. f.verhey@np.unimaas.nl
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D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity