Family, Alzheimer's disease and negative symptoms

Background. The aim of this study is to look at the correlation between the presence of apathy measured by Marin's scale and family complaints related to withdrawal and the loss of motivation, or depression. The multicentre s tudy was performed on 58 non-demented elderly people, 132 outpatients with Alzheimer's-type dementia, as well as their main caregiver. Methods. After agreement of the patients and the family, the patients were assessed using different scales: Cornell's for depression, Marin's for apat hy, MMS for cognitive disorders, and IRG for dependence. At the same time, two self-administered questionnaires were given to the patients' families: one concerning a list of complaints scored from 1 to 4 relating to various disorders and the other addressing the boundary ambiguities translated from Boss' questionnaire. The 58 non-demented people were 81.20 years old +/- 1 3.75. One hundred and thirty-two demented patients were included: 39 men an d 93 women. The mean age was 79.47 years +/- 9.03. Results. The first family complaint relates to the loss of motivation (65%) . Apathy and depression occur more frequently in dementia, in particular wh en the MMS is degraded. Depression and apathy attracted a high complaint sc ore. rn our study the score of boundary ambiguity is higher among patients with a weak cognitive status. A high level of ambiguity is accompanied by a high score of family complaints. When the family complaint concerning the loss of motivation is present, apathy is significantly more common. Family complaints about withdrawal and loss of motivation an frequently present, a nd are congruent with the actual presence of apathy in the patient. It bear s witness to the distress felt by families faced with the loss of ability n oted in the demented person. The family's difficulties are increased by the patient's depression. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.