Risk of Conversion to Dementia in a Mild Behavioral Impairment Group Compared to a Psychiatric Group and to a Mild Cognitive Impairment Group.

Background: There is insufficient available information on behavioral changes in the absence of cognitive impairment as factors increasing the risk of conversion to dementia.

Objective: To observe and analyze patients with mild behavioral impairment (MBI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and a psychiatry group (PG) to compare the risk of progression to dementia.

Methods: From 677 initially assessed ≥60-year-old patients, a series of 348 patients was studied for a five-year period until censoring or conversion to dementia: 96 with MBI, 87 with MCI, and 165 with general psychiatry disorders, including 4 subgroups: Anxiety, Depression, Psychosis and Others.

[A survey on biomarkers and early diagnosis in Alzheimer's disease].

Given the potential use of biomarkers in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in early stages, new ethical and communication dilemmas appear in everyday clinical practice. The aim of this study was to know the opinion of health professionals (HP) and general public (GP) on the implementation of early diagnostic techniques in AD and the use of biomarkers for this purpose. A survey with multiple choice answers was elaborated in two versions: one for HP and the other for GP.

[Acute stress disorder in the emergency, its relationship with trigger factors from a gender perspective].

Background: Anxiety disorders and, in particular, acute stress disorder are one of the principal reasons for medical assistance, being the women the ones who frequently consult.

Aims: To describe and analyze, from a perspective of gender, the factors that unleash the consultation of an episode of acute stress disorder in the emergency.

Materials And Method: An exploratory descriptive study was performed.

Geriatric depression and its relation with cognitive impairment and dementia.

Different subtypes of depressive syndromes exist in late life; many of them have cognitive impairment and sometimes it is difficult to differentiate them from dementia. This research aimed to investigate subtypes of geriatric depression associated with cognitive impairment, searched for differential variables and tried to propose a study model. A hundred and eighteen depressive patients and forty normal subjects matched by age and educational level were evaluated with an extensive neuropsychological battery, scales to evaluate neuropsychiatric symptoms and daily life activities (DLA).

Mild cognitive impairment: risk of dementia according to subtypes.

Unlabelled: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has 3 clinical subtypes: amnestic (aMCI), multiple domains (mdMCI) and non-amnestic single domain (na-SD-MCI) whose evolutive possibility to dementia has not been profoundly studied.

Objective: This paper aims to determine the conversion to dementia of the different subtypes of MCI and determine risk factors associated to conversion to dementia.

Methods: A total of 127 patients diagnosed with MCI (age=70.

Behavioral symptoms related to cognitive impairment.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are core features of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. On one hand, behavioral symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can indicate an increased risk of progressing to dementia. On the other hand, mild behavioral impairment (MBI) in patients who usually have normal cognition indicates an increased risk of developing dementia.

Insurance status and demographic and clinical factors associated with pharmacologic treatment of depression: associations in a cohort in Buenos Aires.

Objective: There is a paucity of evidence about insurance status and the likelihood of receiving medical services in Latin America. The objective of this analysis was to examine the association between insurance status and pharmacologic treatment for depression.

Methods: Patients referred to a memory clinic of a public hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and identified with any of four types of depression (subsyndromal, dysthymia, major, and due to dementia) were included.

Clinical manifestations of geriatric depression in a memory clinic: toward a proposed subtyping of geriatric depression.

Background: As the older population increases so does the number of older psychiatric patients. Elderly psychiatric patients manifest certain specific and unique characteristics. Different subtypes of depressive syndromes exist in late-life depression, and many of these are associated with cognitive impairment.

[Disinhibition in psychogeriatry: differential diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia].

Disinhibition is the loss of psychological and physiological inhibition that leads to cognitive and motor impulsivity. The notion of impulsiveness is often linked to the function of the prefrontal cortex, and is usually understood as a lack of response inhibition. In other words, the subject is unable to suppress or withhold a previously rewarding response and the behavior appears impulsive.

Clinical and economic characteristics associated with direct costs of Alzheimer's, frontotemporal and vascular dementia in Argentina.

Background: The economic cost of dementia is high and can be predicted by cognitive and neuropsychiatric profiles. The differential costs of the various subtypes of dementia are unknown in Argentina, and this study therefore aimed to compare these costs.

Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of dementia of Alzheimer-type (DAT), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and vascular dementia (VaD), and their primary caregivers, were evaluated between 2002 and 2008.

The economic cost of Alzheimer's disease: Family or public health burden?

Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients suffer progressive cognitive, behavioral and functional impairment which result in a heavy burden to patients, families, and the public-health system. AD entails both direct and indirect costs. Indirect costs (such as loss or reduction of income by the patient or family members) are the most important costs in early and community-dwelling AD patients.

[Use and abuse of drugs in cognitive impairment patients].

Introduction: Irrational use of drugs for the treatment of cognitive impairment can increase health costs in developing countries.

Objective: to analyze the pattern of drug prescription related to the treatment of patients with dementia and to compare them with the income of patients.

Patients: 313 community-based outpatients that seeked medical advice for memory problems, in the Memory Center of Zubizarreta General Hospital (Buenos Aires, Argentina), were prospectively assessed during a period of a year.

Role of cognitive reserve in progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

Unlabelled: Cognitive reserve is the ability to optimize performance through differential recruitment of brain networks, which may reflect the use of alternative cognitive strategies.

Objectives: To identify factors related to cognitive reserve associated with progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to degenerative dementia.

Methods: A cohort of 239 subjects with MCI (age: 72.

Late- versus early-onset geriatric depression in a memory research center.

Objective: To contrast early-onset (<60 years) and late-onset (>60 years) depression in geriatric patients by evaluating differences in cognition, vascular comorbidity and sociological risk factors. Both patient groups were compared with normal subjects.

Materials And Methods: We recruited 76 patients with depressive symptoms (37 late onset and 39 early onset) and 17 normal controls matched by age and educational level.

Validity and reliability of the SF-36 administered to caregivers of patients with alzheimer's disease: evidence from a south american sample.

Background: Being a caregiver of a patient with Alzheimer's disease is associated with impaired health status and declines in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This paper evaluates the reliability and validity of the Argentinean version of the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) among caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: Forty-eight caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients completed the SF-36, the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).

Cognitive, functional and behavioral factors associated with the burden of caring for geriatric patients with cognitive impairment or depression: evidence from a South American sample.

Objective: To examine behavioral, cognitive and functional factors associated with psychosocial burden in caregivers of geriatric patients.

Methods: Primary caregivers assessed were included if the geriatric patient cared for had a cognitive impairment or dementia (degenerative, vascular or mixed) (Group 1) or depression and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) (Group 2). Caregivers completed the Zarit questionnaire, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL).

[Cognitive performance in schizophrenia (paranoid vs residual subtype)].

Introduction: Several studies refer to the relationship between schizophrenia and cognitive dysfunctions. The most frequent disturbances accepted are the deficits in the executive, memory and verbal tests. However, there are few comparative data about the cognitive functioning of the different subtypes of schizophrenia.

[Cognition in dysthymia].

Unlabelled: Depression is named as one of the most prevalent Mental Health problem, affecting almost 10 % of the population. According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) different subtypes are included. Dysthymic Disorder is characterized by a depressed mood for most of the day, for more days than not, as indicated either by subjective account or observation by others, for at least 2 years.