Cummings J L
Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine 90095-1769, USA.
Neurology. 1997 May;48(5 Suppl 6):S10-6. doi: 10.1212/wnl.48.5_suppl_6.10s.
The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was developed to assess psychopathology in dementia patients. It evaluates 12 neuropsychiatric disturbances common in dementia: delusions, hallucinations, agitation, dysphoria, anxiety, apathy, irritability, euphoria, disinhibition, aberrant motor behavior, night-time behavior disturbances, and appetite and eating abnormalities. The severity and frequency of each neuropsychiatric symptom are rated on the basis of scripted questions administered to the patient's caregiver. The NPI also assesses the amount of caregiver distress engendered by each of the neuropsychiatric disorders. A total NPI score and a total caregiver distress score are calculated, in addition to the scores for the individual symptom domains. Content validity, concurrent validity, inter-rater reliability, and test-retest reliability of the NPI are established. Different neurologic disorders have characteristic neuropsychiatric manifestations and distinctive NPI profiles. The NPI is sensitive to treatment effects and has demonstrated the amelioration of behavioral symptoms in Alzheimer's disease by cholinergic agents. The NPI is a useful instrument for characterizing the psychopathology of dementia syndromes, investigating the neurobiology of brain disorders with neuropsychiatric manifestations, distinguishing among different dementia syndromes, and assessing the efficacy of treatment.
神经精神科问卷（NPI）旨在评估痴呆患者的精神病理学。它评估痴呆中常见的12种神经精神障碍：妄想、幻觉、激越、烦躁不安、焦虑、淡漠、易激惹、欣快、脱抑制、异常运动行为、夜间行为障碍以及食欲和进食异常。每种神经精神症状的严重程度和频率根据向患者照料者提出的书面问题进行评分。NPI还评估每种神经精神障碍给照料者带来的痛苦程度。除了各个症状领域的得分外，还计算NPI总分和照料者痛苦总分。已确定NPI的内容效度、同时效度、评分者间信度和重测信度。不同的神经系统疾病有其特征性的神经精神表现和独特的NPI特征。NPI对治疗效果敏感，并已证明胆碱能药物可改善阿尔茨海默病的行为症状。NPI是一种有用的工具，可用于描述痴呆综合征的精神病理学、研究具有神经精神表现的脑部疾病的神经生物学、区分不同的痴呆综合征以及评估治疗效果。
