Correlates of agitation and depression in nursing home residents with dementia.

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dementia severity, age, gender, and prescription of psychotropics, and syndromes of agitation and depression in a sample of nursing home residents with dementia.

Methods: The Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) was administered to residents with dementia (N = 304) of 18 nursing homes. Agitation symptoms were clustered using factorial analysis.