Citation

Li XL, Hu N, Tan MS, Yu JT, Tan L. Biomed. Res. Int. 2014; 2014: e927804.

Affiliation

Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, School of Medicine, Qingdao University, No. 5 Donghai Middle Road, Qingdao 266071, China ; Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, College of Medicine and Pharmaceutics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Hindawi Publishing)

DOI

10.1155/2014/927804

PMID

25133184

PMCID

PMC4123596

Abstract

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) such as depression, apathy, aggression, and psychosis are now recognized as core features of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and there is a general consensus that greater symptom severity is predictive of faster cognitive decline, loss of independence, and even shorter survival. Whether these symptoms result from the same pathogenic processes responsible for cognitive decline or have unique etiologies independent of AD-associated neurodegeneration is unclear. Many structural and metabolic features of the AD brain are associated with individual neuropsychiatric symptoms or symptom clusters. In addition, many genes have been identified and confirmed that are associated with symptom risk in a few cases. However, there are no single genes strongly predictive of individual neuropsychiatric syndromes, while functional and structural brain changes unique to specific symptoms may reflect variability in progression of the same pathological processes. Unfortunately, treatment success for these psychiatric symptoms may be lower when comorbid with AD, underscoring the importance of future research on their pathobiology and treatment. This review summarizes some of the most salient aspects of NPS pathogenesis.

Language: en