Table 1 Summary of clinical assessment scales for neuropsychiatric symptoms
Measured symptoms | Scale | Applicable population | Scale description |
|---|---|---|---|
Delusions, hallucinations, anxiety, agitation, euphoria, disinhibition, irritability, apathy, aberrant motor behavior, sleep and eating disturbance | Neuropsychiatric Inventory | Generally applicable | Assessment of broader psychopathology; Collect information that may distinguish the different causes of dementia. |
Paranoid and delusional ideation, hallucinations, activity disturbances, aggressiveness, diurnal rhythm disturbances, affective disturbances, anxieties and phobias | Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer’s disease rating scale | AD | Specifically for patients with AD, excluding the effects of cognitive impairment on measurement. |
Anxiety, depression, aberrant motor behavior, delusions and hallucinations, disturbance of consciousness | Behavior Rating Scale for Dementia | AD | Detailed content; High variability and sensitivity |
Psychotic disorders, mood disorders, substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, etc | Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders | Generally applicable | The scale included multidimensional and single-dimensional assessments. There were three self-assessment versions: the adult, the child/adolescent, and the parent/guardian. |
Mental health, walking, eating, diurnal rhythm, aggressive behavior, sexual behavior, incontinence, individual behavioral abnormalities | Present Behavioral Examination | Generally applicable | Interviews were conducted with primary caregivers for patients with dementia or other neuropsychiatric disorders. It assesses behavior over the preceding 4 weeks. |
Motor, intellectual and emotional functions and different symptoms characteristic for dementia. | Gottfries–Brane–Steen scale | Generally applicable | It can measure changes in dementia symptoms over a certain amount of time and evaluate the effect of treatment. |
Apathy (Unidimension) | Apathy Evaluation Scale | AD/PD/ stroke | Three versions of the AES (clinician, informant, and self-rated) were used to evaluate the emotional apathy of patients in the past 4 weeks. |
Dementia Apathy Interview and Rating | AD | Attempt to differentiate limited activity and engagement due to lack of interest from the inability or longstanding, premorbid personality traits through question construction, and interview format. | |
Apathy Inventory | AD/PD/MCI | It consists of two sets of questionnaires, one for caregivers and the other for patient-based assessments. Each problem involves frequency and severity. | |
Apathy (Multidimension) | Dimensional Apathy Scale | Generally applicable | A comprehensive and robust measure of multidimensional apathy |
Lille Apathy Rating Scale | PD | The scale is based on a structured interview, including 33 items, divided into nine domains. Responses are scored on a dichotomous scale. | |
Apathy Motivation Index | Healthy people | Identified subtypes of apathy in behavioral, social, and emotional domains. | |
Depression | Hamilton Depression Scale | Mild AD | Emphasis on patient perception and memory; only appropriate for evaluating patients with mild dementia |
Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia | AD | Accurately distinguish depressive symptoms in AD patients from their cognitive dysfunction | |
Depressive Signs Scale | Severe dementia | Can not assess depressive symptoms in patients mild or moderate dementia. | |
The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale | Generally applicable | The scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. More emphasis is placed on the individual’s emotional physical examination, less on the somatic symptoms of depression. | |
Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale | People with depression | A clinical interview with ten items, each scored on a scale from 0 to 6, particularly sensitive to treatment effects. | |
Geriatric depression scale | Elderly with depression | More sensitively examine somatic symptoms specific to older depressed patients, with 30 core items. | |
Anxiety | Hamilton Anxiety Scale | Generally applicable | Can not distinguish depression and anxiety well; The assessment of AD depression lacks specificity |
Worry Scale | Mild dementia/ non-dementia adults | The Worry Scale is a brief, unidimensional scale with good reliability and concurrent validity. | |
Rating Anxiety in Dementia | Dementia | The items in the scale were rated according to the person’s symptoms and signs of anxiety over the previous 2 weeks, including worry, sleep disturbance, irritability, and a number of somatic symptoms | |
Depression, Anxiety | Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale | Adults | It contains two subscales of anxiety and depression, each with seven questions. The psychiatric assessment for each patient lasted about 20 min. |
Aggressive | Rating Scale For Aggressive Behavior in the Elderly | Elderly | Not only to assess patients in nursing homes or hospitals, but also in the community |
Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory | Generally applicable | The CMAI is a caregivers’ rating questionnaire consisting of 29 agitated behaviors, each rated on a 7-point scale of frequency. A disruptiveness scale was added to later versions. | |
Sleep disturbance | Women’s Health Initiative Insomnia Rating Scale | Women | A brief, five-item scale evaluating the frequency and intensity of certain sleep difficulties in respondents and requiring between 2 and 5 min |