Tess Ann Kurian1, Sumesh Balachandran2, Yesudas Kalathara Francis3
BACKGROUND
Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a heterogeneous
group of clinical phenomena experienced during the course of dementia which are
either subjectively reported by the patient or observed by the clinician. BPSD
include agitation, aberrant motor behaviour, anxiety, elation, irritability,
depression, apathy, disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations, and sleep or appetite
changes. We wanted to determine the frequency of behavioural and psychological
symptoms of dementia in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type attending
the Psychiatry Department in a tertiary care centre of north Kerala and to address
the degree of caregiver distress.
METHODS
This is a hospital based cross sectional study. A consecutive sample of 72 patients
of either gender of age group > 55 years who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
dementia using DSM 4 - TR criteria attending Department of Psychiatry of GMC
Kannur during the period March 2019 to February 2020 were included in the study.
The primary caregivers were interviewed to obtain the sociodemographic profile
of the patients and BEHAVE AD scale was administered to assess the BPSD in
patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Descriptive statistical tools like frequency and
percentage were used.
RESULTS
The most common BPSD identified were diurnal rhythm disturbances or day-night
disturbances observed in 79.2 % (N = 57) of the sample. This was followed by
affective disturbances, paranoid and delusional ideations, anxieties, hallucinations
and aggressiveness. The least reported was activity disturbances.
CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of BPSD is very high in dementia of Alzheimer’s type and the most
frequent BPSD reported was diurnal rhythm disturbances. BPSD would impact
negatively on the health of the individual and their respective caregivers.
