NON-COGNITIVE DISTURBANCES IN DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER-TYPE - DELUSIONS, MISIDENTIFICATIONS, HALLUCINATIONS, AND BEHAVIORAL DISTURBANCES

A semi-structured interview was administered to the closest relatives of 50 patients with presenile or senile dementia of the Alzheimer type . The disturbances most frequently reported were: wandering/pacing (56 %, cumulative percentage), aggressive behavior (44 %) and - significa ntly related to more severe stages of dementia - apathy/loss of drive (58 %), eating disturbances (46 %) and disturbances of the sleep-wakin g cycle (32 %). Depressive symptoms were observed in 58 % of the patie nts, preferentially in the early stages of illness with preserved insi ght. Signs of paranoid delusions (46 %), delusional misidentification (34 %), visual (32 %) and auditory hallucinations (16 %) were encounte red temporarily in a large number of patients. The importance of ''non -cognitive'' symptoms in Alzheimer's disease is underlined by their su bjective significance for the caregivers.