Neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and mild Alzheimer Disease: a cross sectional comparison.

Introduction. The detection of early stages of dementia is important for early diagnosis and intervention. Early interventions are effective in improving therapeutic outcomes. The presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) predicts unfavorable outcomes in dementia, such as poor prognosis, high caregiver burden, institutionalization and drug use. Although there is some evidence that NPS are common in dementia, they have received less attention in the prodromal stages.

Methods. In this study, 39 patients with MCI (mean age= 80.4; SD= 4.7) and 45 patients with mild Alzheimer's Disease (AD) (mean age= 80.7; SD= 5.1) were recruited in a Geriatric Day Hospital. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Mini Mental State Examination and Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly. NPS were measured with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q).

Results. There was no significant difference (p
Conclusions. These findings suggest that neuropsychiatric symptoms are already present in MCI in the same degree as in mild AD and support the hypothesis that NPS might constitute an important early sign of mild AD.