English

Abstract

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. KEYWORDS Alzheimer’s Dementia, Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia