Table 1.
Responses to questionnaire items related to the detection of BPSD in patients with dementia
| Items of the questionnaire | 5-point Likert scale |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| strongly agree (1) | moderately agree (2) | neither agree nor disagree (3) | moderately disagree (4) | strongly disagree (5) | |
| #14. The detection of BPSD is very important in patients with dementia because they decrease significantly the quality of life of patients | 144 (89.4) | 17 (10.6) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| #15. The detection of BPSD is very important in patients with dementia because they decrease significantly the quality of life of caregivers | 149 (92.0) | 13 (8.0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| #17. The presence of visual hallucinations in an elderly patient, with no previous psychiatric history, suggests applying screening tests for dementia | 108 (66.7) | 47 (29.0) | 2 (1.2) | 4 (2.5) | 1 (0.6) |
| #19. The presence of delusional ideas in an elderly patient, with no previous psychiatric history, suggests applying screening tests for dementia | 120 (74.1) | 41 (25.3) | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.6) |
| #20. The presence of depression in an elderly patient, with no previous psychiatric history, suggests applying screening tests for dementia | 63 (38.9) | 77 (47.5) | 18 (11.1) | 4 (2.5) | 0 |
| #21. The presence of apathy/indifference in an elderly patient, with no previous psychiatric history, suggests applying screening tests for dementia | 63 (38.9) | 82 (50.6) | 14 (8.6) | 3 (1.9) | 0 |
| #22. The presence of irritability/emotional lability in an elderly patient, with no previous psychiatric history, suggests applying screening tests for dementia | 60 (37.0) | 79 (48.8) | 22 (13.6) | 1 (0.6) | 0 |
| #23. The presence of aberrant motor behavior in an elderly patient, with no previous psychiatric history, suggests applying screening tests for dementia | 62 (38.3) | 71 (43.8) | 20 (12.3) | 9 (5.6) | 0 |
| #24. BPSD are more frequent in the different types of dementia as the disease progresses | 78 (48.1) | 63 (38.9) | 12 (7.4) | 9 (5.6) | 0 |
| #25. In elderly patients with chronic schizophrenia it can be very difficult to differentiate whether a change in psychotic symptoms is related to their primary deficit or is a developing dementia | 82 (50.6) | 61 (37.7) | 12 (7.4) | 7 (4.3) | 0 |
| #26. In the differentiation between genuine psychosis and psychotic symptoms in AD, it is useful to consider the existence of previous cognitive impairment in AD and the previous history of psychosis in genuine psychosis | 99 (61.1) | 63 (38.9) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Numbers of the items are those of the study questionnaire (online suppl. material). Percentages in parenthesis. BPSD, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia; AD, Alzheimer's disease.