Historical changes in the severity of dementia and accompanying neuropsychiatric symptoms in persons presenting for evaluation in a multiracial urban dementia center.

CONCLUSION: Over the period 1992 to 2008, patients were increasingly more likely to present with early stages of dementia and fewer symptoms of psychoses and agitation, and racial differences in illness severity and neuropsychiatric symptoms disappeared. If our sample reflects trends in the United States, then it suggests that more persons will be in care for longer periods of time, previous research findings derived from dementia centers must be considered historically specific, and clinicians must be prepared to work with persons with milder forms of neurocognitive disorders. PMID: 22089639 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord Source Type: research