Association of Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire Score With Caregiver Relationship in Alzheimer's Disease Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) can appear not only in Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD) but in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study examined the association of BPSD with caregiver relationship, using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) score. The cognitive function of 419 new outpatients with ADD or MCI was evaluated using the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Caregiver relationship was significantly associated with patient age, sex, duration of education, cohabitation status, total NPI-Q score, and number of NPI-Q domains. Caregiver (oldest daughter), duration of school education, age, and total HDS-R and MMSE scores were significantly associated with NPI-Q total score and number of NPI-Q domains. The delusions, dysphoria/depression, irritability/lability, and aberrant motor behaviors domains were significantly associated with caregiver relationship. The dysphoria/depression and irritability/lability domain score were scored significantly higher by female caregivers. The delusion domain was significantly associated with cohabitation.