Faculty Articles
The behavioral pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (BEHAVE-AD): factor structure among community-dwelling Alzheimer's disease patients.
Publication Title
International journal of geriatric psychiatry
ISSN
0885-6230
Publication Date
11-1-1998
Keywords
Activities of Daily Living, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Ambulatory Care, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Geriatric Assessment, Humans, Male, Mental Status Schedule, Neuropsychological Tests, Psychometrics, Reproducibility of Results, Social Behavior Disorders
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to (a) determine the factor structure of the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (BEHAVE-AD), and (b) examine the associations of the observed factors to the level of cognitive impairment.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of geriatric patients evaluated at an outpatient memory disorders clinic.
SAMPLE: One hundred and fifty-one consecutive patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) according to NINCDS-ADRDA diagnostic criteria.
RESULTS: Principal factors analysis with Varimax rotation resulted in a five-factor solution that accounted for 40.0% of the common variance. The factors included agitation/anxiety (agitation, anxiety of upcoming events; other anxiety), psychosis (delusions of theft, suspiciousness/paranoia; visual hallucinations), aggression (verbal aggressiveness; physical threats/violence; fear of being left alone; other delusions), depression (tearfulness; depressed mood) and activity disturbance (wandering; delusion one's house is not one's home). Several factors were associated with level of cognitive impairment as assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).
CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the BEHAVE-AD measures a wide range of behavioral pathology that can be empirically represented by five independent symptom clusters among outpatient AD patients.
Volume
13
Issue
11
First Page
793
Last Page
800
Disciplines
Medical Specialties | Medicine and Health Sciences | Osteopathic Medicine and Osteopathy
NSUWorks Citation
Harwood, Dylan G.; Ownby, Raymond L.; Barker, Warren W.; and Duara, Ranjan, "The behavioral pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (BEHAVE-AD): factor structure among community-dwelling Alzheimer's disease patients." (1998). Faculty Articles. 98.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_com_faculty_articles/98
