Title
Troublesome and disruptive behaviors in dementia. Relationships to diagnosis and disease severity
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Neurology
Publication Date
1988-09-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aggression; Alzheimer Disease; Dementia; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders; Mental Status Schedule; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Social Behavior Disorders; Violence
Disciplines
Neurology | Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Abstract
Patients with dementia often manifest troublesome and disruptive behaviors in addition to intellectual impairments. This study evaluated behavioral disturbances in 126 demented patients examined sequentially, using questionnaires administered to primary caregivers to quantify the types and severity of behavioral disturbances. Eighty-three percent of the patients exhibited one or more of the targeted behaviors. The most common troublesome and disruptive behaviors clustered into three categories: aggressive, ideational, and vegetative. The prevalence and severity of the behaviors increased with global severity of dementia, but did not differ in either frequency or type when patients with three diagnoses were compared: Alzheimer's disease (AD), multi-infarct dementia (MID), and mixed AD and MID (MIX). The occurrence and severity of the target behaviors correlated modestly with the severity of dementia. Impairments of mental status correlated weakly with only a single troublesome and disruptive behavior--assaultiveness. These results suggest that troublesome and disruptive behaviors are a very frequent component of dementing disorders, are related to disease severity, and parallel (but are probably not determined by) intellectual deficit.
Source
J Am Geriatr Soc. 1988 Sep;36(9):784-90.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
Related Resources
PubMed ID
3411060
Repository Citation
Swearer JM, Drachman DA, O'Donnell BF, Mitchell AL. (1988). Troublesome and disruptive behaviors in dementia. Relationships to diagnosis and disease severity. Neurology Publications. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/neuro_pp/264