Centre for Policy on Ageing



What depressive symptoms are reported in Alzheimer's patients?
Author(s)	Myron F Weiner, Doris Svetlik, Richard C Risser
Journal title	International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 12, no 6, June 1997
Pages	pp 648-652
Keywords	Depression ; Symptoms ; Dementia ; Evaluation ; United States of America.
Annotation	The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) was administered - with a caregiver as the informant - as a semi-structured interview to 30 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients who also underwent independent psychiatric evaluation. There was no relationship between number of symptoms reported by patients or caregivers and patients' levels of cognitive impairment. Symptom reports by caregivers living in the same household did not differ significantly from symptom reports by caregivers living elsewhere. Caregivers rated AD patients as having significantly more depressive symptoms than did patients themselves. Most frequently endorsed by caregivers were psychic anxiety (77%), suspiciousness (50%), low energy (50%), and depression (43%). Most frequently endorsed by AD patients were weight loss (36%), psychic anxiety (33%), and somatic anxiety (33%). Depression was endorsed by 20% of patients.
Accession Number	CPA-970807245 A
Classmark	ENR: CT: EA: 4C: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.