RESUMO
ABSTRACT Patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) usually display cognitive deficits with aging. However, the correlation between BD and dementia syndromes is inconclusive, despite the similarity with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. We report a 78-year-old female patient who had bipolar type 1 disorder since adolescence. Her symptoms ranged from apathy to psychotic mania. She had had three hospitalizations, and since her last stay 10 years ago, her symptoms had remained stable. However, in the past 2 years, she displayed different symptoms, such as irritability manifested as verbal and physical aggression, cognitive impairment, repetitive pattern of behavior, perambulation, persecutory delusions, disorientation, and hyporexia. Treatment with anticholinesterases or mood stabilizers promoted no improvement. She scored 17/30 points on the Mini-Mental State Examination. Neuropsychological assessment suggested deficits in executive function, attention, and memory. Neuroimaging tests revealed frontotemporal degeneration and hypoperfusion. Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for this type of patient represent a significant challenge for clinicians.
RESUMO Pacientes com Transtorno Bipolar (TB) costumam apresentardéficits cognitivosao envelhecer. No entanto, a correlação com síndromes demenciais é inconclusiva, apesar da similaridade com a variante comportamental da demência frontotemporal (bvFTD). Nósrelatamos uma paciente de 78 anos de idade com TB tipo 1 desde a adolescência. Seus sintomas variavam de apatia a mania psicótica. A paciente passou por 3 internações, sendo a última há 10 anos, seguida de estabilização clínica. No entanto, nos últimos 2 anos, ela apresentou sintomas diferentes, como irritabilidade expressada por agressões verbal e física, comprometimento cognitivo, padrão repetitivo de comportamento, perambulação, delírios persecutórios, desorientação e hiporexia. O tratamento com anticolinesterásicos ou estabilizadores de humor não revelou melhora. Apresentou 17/30 pontos no miniexame do estado mental, a avaliação neuropsicológica sugeriu déficit de função executiva, atenção e memória. Os exames de neuroimagem demonstraram atrofia e hipoperfusão fronto-temporal. Abordagens diagnósticas e terapêuticas para este tipo de paciente representam um desafio significativo para os clínicos.
Assuntos
Humanos , Transtorno Bipolar , Idoso , Demência Frontotemporal , NeuropsiquiatriaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: There are few published studies investigating the nutritional status of elderly individuals with psychiatric disorders. This study aims to describe the nutritional status of elderly patients from a neuropsychiatry outpatient clinic, investigating their nutritional status according to the type of psychiatric diagnostic, specifically Alzheimer's disease (AD), depression (DEP), and other types of dementia (OTD).METHODS: Elderly individuals from two outpatient clinics (n= 217) were evaluated for nutritional risk (using a validated tool) and for some anthropometric and biochemical measurements. RESULTS: We found a high prevalence of nutritional risk in the sample (about 60%). The major dietary problems found were low daily meal frequency and the low daily intake of water. Biochemical analyses indicated blood glucose and total cholesterol to be above the reference values, while hemoglobin and vitamin D were below the reference values. Anthropometric measurements did not differ between the groups with different psychiatric diagnostics, except for calf circumference, which showed to be lower in the OTD group (p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Although we found a high prevalence of nutritional risk, the differences between the diagnostic groups were very subtle. The nutritional risk is certainly associated with inadequate eating habits. It is necessary to seek strategies to improve the diet and other lifestyle factors in geriatric neuropsychiatry, in order to mitigate the negative outcomes brought about by the diseases.