Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Primary Progressive Aphasia

SERRANO CM, MARTELLI M. MANZANAL AA DILLON C C. ITURRY MM SARASOLA DD TARAGANO FEFE, ALLEGRI RF

Congreso; Annual meeting American Academy of neurology; 2009

Introduction: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) represents a clinical syndrome linked to multiple degenerative diseases. The diagnosis of PPA is made when language is the only area of salient and progressive dysfunction for at least the first two years of the disease. The aim of this study was to determine both the presence and type of neuropsychiatric manifestations in PPA patients and to compare them with normal controls. Methods: 26 subjects with PPA (nonfluent progressive aphasia (NFPA; n = 12); fluent progressive aphasia (FPA; n = 8); logopenic progressive aphasia (LPA; n =  6 ) were assessed and 20 normal controls matched by age and education. Neuropsychiatric symptoms were  assessed by the Neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI-Q) . Results: Depression (70%) Apathy (61%) and anxiety (52%) were the most common symptoms in the PPA group. Statistically significant differences were observed between the PPA and control groups regarding the above mentioned symptoms (p<0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed between the Neuropsychiatric symptoms and the three different clinical variants. Conclusion: PPA is associated with a high rate of neuropsychiatric symptoms (depression, apathy and anxiety). These symptoms have serious adverse consequences.