Neuropsychiatric Symptoms as Risk Factors for Cognitive Decline in Clinically Normal Older Adults: The Cache County Study

With the aging of the U.S. population, the public health burden of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing. The overall prevalence of dementia doubles with every 5 additional years of age over 60 from approximately 1% in persons aged 60 –65 years to 45% in persons aged 90–95 years, with comparable effects on AD incidence1. Thus, there is a public health need to prevent AD. To do so requires that we identify “healthy” persons with “preclinical disease” at risk for AD incidence2. There has been considerable progress in id entifying early cognitive3 and biomarker predictors of AD incidence, with increasing evidence that neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) might be indicators of preclinical AD.
Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tags: Regular Research Article Source Type: research