Relationship between Premorbid Personality and Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia in Korean Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: We performed a cross-sectional study to examine the relationship between premorbid personality and behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) in Korean patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: We assessed 103 patients diagnosed with AD for the presence of BPSD over the disease course by using the caregiver-rated Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) and for the premorbid personality by using a retrospective version of the NEO-Five Factor Inventory questionnaire completed by informants. RESULTS: Premorbid neuroticism was significantly correlated with delusion, agitation, anxiety, disinhibition, total K-NPI score (p<0.05), and sleep disturbances (p<0.01). Lower premorbid conscientiousness was significantly correlated with symptoms of hallucinations and sleep disturbances in AD patients (p<0.05). However, premorbid neuroticism and low premorbid conscientiousness did not act as independent predictors for "psychosis, hyperactivity," or "moods, apathy, frontal" factors of BPSD. CONCLUSION: Premorbid personality was associated with the K-NPI score, but was not observed to be potential predictors of BPSD.