Objectives: Young onset dementia (YOD) often comes with neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) that are burdening for patients and caregivers and are predictors for institutionalization. The course of NPS in institutionalized patients with YOD is unknown. This study aims to fill this gap.Method: This study is part of the BEYOND-study, a descriptive longitudinal cohort study of institutionalized YOD patients. Eighty-nine patients were included in this two-year follow-up study, of which 50 completed the whole follow-up. Clinically relevant NPS were assessed using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home version with a threshold of FxS ≥4. Mean scores and prevalence were calculated of all patients alive at the moment of a given assessment. Cumulative percentages were calculated in patients with complete follow-up.Results: 82-94% of the residents had at least one NPS at any of the five assessments. Over the two year course, 94% of the patients developed at least one new symptom of which 58% developed irritability, 52% agitation, 44% disinhibition and 44% eating change. All patients had any NPS during follow-up. Apathy had the highest overall prevalence rate and was the most persistent symptom over the two-year course, followed by eating changes, aberrant motor behaviour and irritability. The course during follow-up was variable for all NPS with no clear increase or decrease.Conclusion: The severity and prevalence of NPS in institutionalized YOD patients fluctuated during follow-up. Apathy and hyperactive symptoms were most severe and persistent. Future research should focus on the influence of psychotropic drug use and dementia subtype on the course of NPS.

中文翻译：

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机构性年轻痴呆症患者的神经精神症状病程。

目的：年轻的痴呆症（YOD）通常带有神经精神症状（NPS），给患者和护理人员带来负担，并且是机构化的预测因素。住院的YOD患者的NPS病程尚不清楚。方法：本研究是BEYOND研究的一部分，该研究是对YOD住院患者的描述性纵向队列研究。这项为期两年的随访研究包括89位患者，其中50位完成了整个随访。临床相关的NPS使用FxS≥4的阈值的神经精神病学目录-护理家庭版进行评估。在给定评估时，计算了所有存活患者的平均评分和患病率。在完成随访的患者中计算出累积百分比。结果：在五项评估中，有82-94％的居民至少拥有一项NPS。在两年的疗程中，94％的患者出现了至少一种新症状，其中58％的患者出现了烦躁，52％的躁动，44％的抑制力和44％的饮食改变。所有患者在随访期间均接受过NPS治疗。冷漠的总体患病率最高，并且是两年疗程中最持久的症状，其次是饮食变化，异常的运动行为和易怒。随访期间，所有NPS的病程各不相同，没有明显的增加或减少。结论：机构化YOD患者NPS的严重程度和患病率在随访期间波动。冷漠和多动症状最为严重和持续。未来的研究应集中于精神药物的使用和痴呆亚型对NPS过程的影响。