title: Decreased daytime motor activity associated with apathy in Alzheimer disease:  an actigraphic study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Across all stages of Alzheimer disease (AD), apathy is the most common neuropsychiatric symptom. Studies using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) have found that apathy is present in up to 70% of individuals with Alzheimer disease. One of the main difficulties in assessing apathy and other neuropsychiatric symptoms is the absence of reliable, objective measures. Motor activity assessment using ambulatory actigraphy could provide an indirect, objective evaluation of apathy. The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between apathy and daytime motor activity in AD, using ambulatory actigraphy.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred seven AD outpatients wore a wrist actigraph (Motionlogger) during seven consecutive 24-hour periods to evaluate motor activity. Participants were divided into two subgroups according to their apathy subscores on the NPI: individuals with apathy (NPI-apathy subscores >4) and those without. Daytime mean motor activity scores were compared between the two subgroups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Individuals with AD who had symptoms of apathy (n = 43; age = 79 ± 4.7 years; Mini-Mental State Examination = 20.9 ± 4.8) had significantly lower daytime mean motor activity than AD patients without apathy (n = 64; age = 76.3 ± 7.7; Mini-Mental State Examination = 21.5 ± 4.7), while nighttime mean motor activity did not significantly differ between the two subgroups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ambulatory actigraphy could be added to currently used questionnaires as a simple, objective technique for assessing apathy in the routine assessment of AD patients.
authors: Centre Mémoire de Ressources de Recherche, Nice University Hospital, Nice, France. david.r@chu-nice.fr
authors: Renaud
authors: R
authors: David
authors: Emmanuel
authors: E
authors: Mulin
authors: Leah
authors: L
authors: Friedman
authors: Franck
authors: F
authors: Le Duff
authors: Edyta
authors: E
authors: Cygankiewicz
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Deschaux
authors: Rene
authors: R
authors: Garcia
authors: Jerome A
authors: JA
authors: Yesavage
authors: Philippe H
authors: PH
authors: Robert
authors: Jamie M
authors: JM
authors: Zeitzer
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D057565:Apathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017440:Photoperiod