PREVALENCE AND CORRELATES OF AGGRESSIVE-BEHAVIOR IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

The authors assessed a consecutive series of 196 patients with probabl e Alzheimer's disease (AD) for the presence of aggressive behavior, us ing a standardized neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neuropsychologi cal battery that included both the Overt Aggression Scale and the Irri tability Scale. Twelve percent of patients showed aggressive episodes (5% with verbal aggression, 7% with physical aggression) during the 4 weeks preceding the psychiatric evaluation. Physical aggression was si gnificantly associated with more frequent delusions and more severe ir ritability.