Neuropsychiatric symptoms in amnestic and nonamnestic mild cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND

The information regarding neuropsychiatric symptoms in the subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is inadequate.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the behavioral neuropsychiatric symptoms of MCI in two subgroups of MCI patients with different neuropsychological characteristics.

METHODS

MCI patients are classified as amnestic (aMCI) if they have a prominent memory impairment, either alone or with other cognitive impairments (multiple domains with amnesia), or nonamnestic (naMCI) if a single nonmemory domain is impaired alone or in combination with other nonmemory deficits (multiple domains without amnesia). The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was administrated to detect behavioral and psychological disturbances observed by the caregiver.

RESULTS

120 subjects were analyzed: 94 were classified as aMCI and 26 as naMCI. Subjects with aMCI were more compromised than those with naMCI on global cognitive functions. About 85% of MCI patients had some neuropsychiatric symptoms evaluated with the NPI and the most prevalent symptom was depression, followed by anxiety. A significantly higher prevalence of hallucinations and sleep disorders has been observed in the naMCI group in comparison with the aMCI group.

CONCLUSION

Neuropsychiatric symptoms occur in the majority of persons with MCI and may be the earliest manifestation of different diseases, each one associated with different clinical profiles at the stage of MCI.