3 The cognitive syndrome is characterized by deficits in memory, language, visual constructional abilities, and other areas of intellectual functioning.4 The http://www.selleckchem.com/products/GDC-0449.html behavioral syndrome is characterized by symptoms of psychosis, aggression, depression, anxiety, agitation, and other common, but less well-defined, behavioral symptoms.5

Even though both syndromes have devastating consequences for patients and their care providers, it is the presence of behavioral symptoms and their impact on care providers that ultimately precipitate the chain of events that results in the demented patient’s placement in a. long-term care institution.6 This Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical paper will focus on the behavioral and psychological symptoms Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of dementia. This focus was chosen because of the considerable treatment challenge these symptoms present, to clinicians and the burden they impose on patients, care providers, and society. Historical perspective Although physicians have been aware of the presence of behavioral symptoms in dementia since AD was first. described,7 a definition of these symptoms was not. attempted until 1986.8 In 1986, the syndrome defined was agitation, ie, “inappropriate verbal and motor behaviors that, are not, related to unmet needs or confusion per Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical se.”9 Soon clinicians and researchers realized that the problem was more complex than the aforementioned

and that, patients presented not only symptoms of agitation, but also symptoms of aggression, psychosis, alteration in circadian rhythm, depression, and more.10 In 1996, the International Psychogeriatric Association

(IPA) called a consensus conference to examine the available knowledge on noncognitive symptoms of dementia. The goal of the conference was to achieve consensus Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical on the use of more appropriate descriptive terms that would facilitate communication among researchers and therefore Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical foster further development of the field. The experts in attendance agreed on an umbrella term that would include all behavioral symptoms observed in the dementia. The term was “Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia” (BPSD),11 defined as “signs and symptoms of disturbed perception, thought content, mood or behavior that frequently occur in patients with dementia.”12 As new treatment options and scientific information emerged, another meeting was called by the IPA. This meeting evaluated the new data and concluded that a number of subsyndromes could be identified within the BPSD umbrella. These syndromes were Olopatadine psychosis, circadian rhythm (sleepwake) disturbance, depression, anxiety, agitation, and other less well-defined syndromes. The following is a brief summary of the current knowledge on BPSD with suggestions as to how this information can be applied to patient care. Etiology The etiology of BPSD is unknown. However, most experts probably agree that the etiology of BPSD is related to specific neuropathological brain lesions,13 psychological and environmental factors, or a. combination of both.