Two hundred ten community-dwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease
were examined prospectively by psychiatrists as part of a longitudinal
study. Twenty-five of these patients who were institutionalized during the
next 3 years were then matched to 25 patients who were not
institutionalized, and the groups were compared. The patients who had been
institutionalized had higher scores on standardized psychiatric rating
scales but not on formal neuropsychological tests of cognition. These
results suggest that potentially treatable (noncognitive) behavioral and
psychiatric symptoms are risk factors for institutionalization, and that
treating these symptoms might delay or prevent institutionalization of some
patients.Abstract Teaser