[Psychological impact of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease].
BACKGROUND
The communication of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) may represent important emotional distress for the patient and his/her caregiver. This present work aimed to investigate if the disclosure of the diagnosis generates any emotional or psychological impact on the patient or his/her caregiver.


METHODS
Thirty-three consecutive AD patients (NINCDS/ADRDA criteria) and their main caregivers were evaluated before and after the diagnosis disclosure. Patients were evaluated with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and caregivers were evaluated with Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the stress subscale from the NPI-Q and Zarit's burden interview.


RESULTS
A total of 26 patients wanted to receive the diagnosis. AD diagnosis disclosure did not produce any significant clinical or emotional changes in the patient. On the contrary, the caregivers were significantly affected by AD diagnosis disclosure. This was reflected on the BDI scores, that increased from 6.9+/-6.5 to 9.7+/-7.5 (p=0.003).


CONCLUSIONS
AD diagnosis may be safely disclosed to the patient. However, the caregivers should be carefully followed-up since depressive symptoms are common after diagnosis disclosure.
Unidad de Alzheimer y Otros Trastornos Cognitivos, Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínic i Universitari, Barcelona, Spain.
A
A
Lladó
S
S
Antón-Aguirre
A
A
Villar
L
L
Rami
J  L
J
Molinuevo
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003142:Communication; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires