The London Psychogeriatric Rating Scale (LPRS) was developed in answer to the demand for a reliable psychometric rating scale suited to a psychogeriatric population. All inpatients on a Psychogeriatric Unit (approximately 140 at any specific time) were rated with the LPRS every third month for an 18-month period. The 4 components of the total score include a measure of mental status originally derived by factor analysis. Predictive validity has been established in terms of various clinically relevant areas including the following: a) ward placement; b) outcome (continued hospitalization, discharge, or death); c) diagnosis (by scoring levels and progress patterns across time); and d) ability of the patient to function in, or benefit from, a particular treatment program. The scale has been used successfully to assess a given patient's progress quantitatively and globally over a long period.

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The use of low-dose L-deprenyl, a selective MAO-B inhibitor, in Alzheimer's disease patients has been associated previously with improvements in agitation and episodic learning and memory. Behavioral, cognitive, and regional electroencephalogram (EEG) measures were obtained in a 4-week open pilot study of 14 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease by NINCDS criteria who were administered 10 mg L-deprenyl per day. L-Deprenyl administration was associated with significant improvements on the agitation and depression factors of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, and spouses' blind ratings. Recall improved on the Buschke Selective Reminding Task, but intrusions also tended to increase; verbal fluency decreased. Absolute EEG delta measures were selectively suppressed in the right frontal region. The pattern of changes suggests that L-deprenyl may be associated with improvement in behavioral and cognitive performance, in part through a mild behavioral disinhibiting effect.

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