Biweekly fluctuations of neuropsychiatric symptoms according to the Neuropsychiatric Inventory: Erratic symptoms or scores?

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

This study investigates the stability of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) assessed biweekly using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) in a memory clinic population during a 6 week period.

Methods

Twenty-three spousal caregivers (mean [SD] age = 69.7 [8.8], 82.6% female) of 23 patients (43.5% had dementia) completed all assessments. The NPI was assessed four times during 6 weeks. We examined whether NPI domains were present during all four assessments, studied within-person variation for each NPI domain, and calculated Spearman's correlations between subsequent time-points. Furthermore, we associated repeated NPI assessments with repeated measures of caregiver burden to examine the clinical impact of changes in NPI scores over time.

Results

The course of NPS

SUBMITTER: Eikelboom WS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9327507 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature