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Journal article
Assessment and management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia
BMJ (Online), v 350(mar02 7), pp h369-h369
02 Mar 2015
PMID: 25731881
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia include agitation, depression, apathy, repetitive questioning, psychosis, aggression, sleep problems, wandering, and a variety of inappropriate behaviors. One or more of these symptoms will affect nearly all people with dementia over the course of their illness. These symptoms are among the most complex, stressful, and costly aspects of care, and they lead to a myriad of poor patient health outcomes, healthcare problems, and income loss for family care givers. The causes include neurobiologically related disease factors; unmet needs; care giver factors; environmental triggers; and interactions of individual, care giver, and environmental factors. The complexity of these symptoms means that there is no “one size fits all solution,” and approaches tailored to the patient and the care giver are needed. Non-pharmacologic approaches should be used first line, although several exceptions are discussed. Non-pharmacologic approaches with the strongest evidence base involve family care giver interventions. Regarding pharmacologic treatments, antipsychotics have the strongest evidence base, although the risk to benefit ratio is a concern. An approach to integrating non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments is described. Finally, the paradigm shift needed to fully institute tailored treatments for people and families dealing with these symptoms in the community is discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Assessment and management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia
- Creators
- Helen C Kales - University of MichiganLaura N Gitlin - Johns Hopkins UniversityConstantine G Lyketsos - Johns Hopkins University
- Publication Details
- BMJ (Online), v 350(mar02 7), pp h369-h369
- Publisher
- British Medical Journal (BMJ)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Nursing and Health Professions; Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000350296600007
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84925813559
- Other Identifier
- 991020112187004721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Psychiatry