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Table 3 The relationship between NPSs and cognitive dysfunction: study characteristics

From: Brain mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review of symptom-general and –specific lesion patterns

Source

Participants (Number)

Findings

Senanarong, 2005 [29]

AD (N = 73)

Clock-drawing test correlated with agitation, apathy, and disinhibition; Verbal Fluency correlated with agitation; Activities of Daily Living and Functional Assessment Questionnaire scores correlated with agitation, apathy, and disinhibition; Comportment predicted total NPI-12 score and apathy; Memory predicted agitation/aggression.

McPHERSON, 2002 [36]

AD (N = 80)

AD patients with apathy performed significantly worse on tests of executive function (WAIS–R Digit Symbol, Trail-Making, Stroop Color Interference Test) than AD patients without apathy.

Grossi, 2013 [37]

AD (N = 32)

The apathetic AD had poorer performance than non-apathetic AD on frontal tasks (Inverse Motor Learning test).

Jeste, 1992 [31]

AD (N = 107)

Patients with delusions were significantly more impaired than those without delusions on the MMSE, Blessed Information-Memory-Concentration Test, Dementia Rating Scale (especially its conceptualization and memory subtests), verbal fluency, modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and the Similarities subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-revised.

Son, 2013 [40]

AD (N = 49)

Seventeen AD patients with depression versus 32 patients with dementia only showed decreased immediate recall for a word list and constructional praxis scores.

Scarmeas, 2005 [42]

Early AD (N = 456)

Delusions and hallucinations predict cognitive (Columbia MMSE score) and functional (Blessed Dementia Rating Scale score) decline.

Boyle, 2003 [43]

AD (N = 45)

Apathy correlated with Activities of Daily Living.

Chen, 1998 [35]

AD (N = 31)

Deficits in four executive skills tests were significantly associated with the Agitation/Disinhibition factor score and total neuropsychiatric score on the Neurobehavioral Rating Scale, as well as the Activities subscore on the Blessed Dementia Scale.

Sultzer, 2014 [34]

AD (N = 88)

Patients with delusions had lower Dementia Rating Scale memory subscale scores.

Westerberg, 2010 [41]

aMCI (N = 10)

Inadequate memory consolidation in aMCI patients is related to declines in subjective sleep indices.

Rozum, 2017 [32]

Severe dementia (N = 89)

Comportment (Social Behavior) was correlated with Apathy, while conceptualization (Sorting by Color), language (Naming, Comprehension), memory (Remote Recall, Learning), and visuospatial ability (Figure Tracing, Drawing) were each correlated with agitation/aggression. Comportment and memory were associated with total NPI-12.

Nagata, 2010 [44]

AD (N = 75)

Aberrant motor behaviors correlated with Frontal Assessment Battery total and the subtest scores (lexical fluency, conflicting instructions).

Wilson, 2000 [33]

AD (N = 410)

Compared with AD patients without hallucination, the average annual rate of decline was increased about memory, visuoconstruction, repetition, and naming in those with hallucination.

Lopez, 1991 [28]

AD (N = 17)

AD patients with delusions and hallucinations had a more rapid rate of decline, as measured by the MMSE, a specific defect in receptive language, and a greater frequency of aggression and hostility.

Nakaaki, 2008 [38]

AD (N = 88)

Total Frontal Assessment Battery scores differed significantly between the AD patients with depression/apathy and those without depression/apathy.

Onofrio, 2012 [30]

AD (N = 166)

A significant association was also found between the impairment of the instrumental activities of daily living and agitation/aggression, anxiety, aberrant motor activity, depression, apathy, irritability/lability, sleep and eating disturbances in AD.

  1. Abbreviations: AD Alzheimer’s disease, aMCI Amnestic mild cognitive impairment, MMSE Mini-mental State Examination, N number, NPI Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Amyloid-β