Behavioral Disturbance, Cognitive Dysfunction, and Functional Skill

Abstract

The nature and severity of behavioral problems, and their relationship to cognitive and functional abilities, was investigated in 56 community‐residing patients with Alzheimer's disease. Measures evaluated three domains of function: behavior, cognition and activities of daily living. Problems of cognitive functioning, such as memory loss, confusion, and disorientation were most prevalent, reported to occur in 84%, 82%, and 64% of the sample, respectively. Problems with activity and emotional distress were next, affecting 20 to 43% of the sample. The mean number of problems reported was 10 per patient. Twenty‐two percent of caregivers reported a minimum of 15 problems occurring at least twice a week and no caregiver reported an absence of problems. Male patients were reported to have more behavioral difficulties. Level of behavioral disturbance was largely unrelated to cognitive or functional ability. Age was unrelated to cognitive or behavioral disturbance but significantly related to activities of daily living. Results indicated that behavioral problems are prevalent and pervasive in even moderately impaired community‐residing Alzheimer disease patients, and that age may be more important than level of cognitive dysfunction in predicting difficulties with activities of daily living.

The Caretaker Obstreperous‐Behavior Rating Assessment (COBRA) Scale

“…In the present study vegetative disorders were found in up to 84% of the patients. Sleep disturbance has been reported to be present in up to 45% of patients with dementia5#l6 and incontinence in 17% of o~tpatients.~, 21 Restless sleep was the most common single disturbance in our outpatient sample, occurring in nearly 40% of patients. Incontinence was present in just over a fifth of the outpatients.…”

Behavioral Syndromes in Alzheimer's Disease

“…Other studies have suggested that violence is the one behavioral problem that is most likely to worsen with increasing severity of dementia (Petry et al, 1988;Swearer et al, 1988). Using information from physicianevaluations, Teri et al (1988) found that incontinence, poor hygiene, agitation, and wandering increased with increasing cognitive impairment, but were unable to replicate these findings when a caregiver checklist method was used (Ten et al, 1989).…”

Characteristics of Sleep Disturbance in Community-Dwelling Alzheimer's Disease Patients

“…We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our project staff, mcludmg Meredith Pfanschmidt, Zilpha Haycox, Sheila O'Connell, Duane Beekly, and Ross Barnhart Portions of this paper were presented at the Amencan Geriatrics Society and American Federation for Agmg Research Annual Meeting, May [6][7][8][9][10] 1998, Seattle, WA…”