[In Alzheimer's disease, the clinical expression of behavioral and psychological signs and symptoms is early and specific of neuropathological stages].
BACKGROUND
The early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is a new challenge. This study concerns 50 patients, 34 females (68 %) and 16 males (32 %) with Alzheimer (AD), according to NINCDS-ADRDA diagnostic criteria.


OBJECTIVE
To systematically evaluate in all patients behavioral and psychological signs and symptoms of dementia (BPSSD), according to the stage of AD, with the patients of our population separated into two MMS groups.


METHODS
The first group was composed of patients with an MMS score from 10 to 20 (eight males and 19 females). Patients of the second group had an MMS score between 21 and 28 (eight males and 19 females). The Neuro-Psychiatric Inventory (NPI) was used to collect information on the presence of BPSSD in AD patients. NPI scores were correlated to the cognitive part of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-Cog) that permits evaluation of the severity of cognitive impairment in AD patients. Before starting the study, all patients gave their informed consent to participate in the study of BPSSD in AD. Statistical treatment of data was performed using STATVIEW.


RESULTS
Our study demonstrates that BPSSD are present not only in early but also in moderate stages of AD. As cognitive impairment, BPSSD are an integrate part of the clinical picture. With a frequency of 74 % for the whole population, "anxiety" represented the more predominant BPSSD for all our patients at all stages of AD. At the very early stages of AD, BPSSD appeared to precede cognitive disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
The symptomatic association of "depression", "agitation", and "irritability of mood" may remain in a steady state for a few months before the appearance of verbal episodic memory impairment, which is characteristic of hippocampus involvement. "Irritability" seems to specifically characterise the initial phase of AD. On the other hand, two BPSSD are characteristic of the late stages of AD: "sleep disorder" and "hallucinations".
Michel
B F
BF
Unité de Neurogériatrie, Hôpital Sainte-Marguerite, 270, boulevard de Sainte-Marguerite, 13009 Marseille, France. bmichel@ap-hm.fr
Luciani
V
V
Geda
Y E
YE
Sambuchi
N
N
Paban
V
V
Azorin
J-M
JM
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D003702:Delusions / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007508:Irritable Mood; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D019579:Neocortex / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology