Citation

Orengo CA, Khan J, Kunik ME, Snow AL, Morgan R, Steele A, Cully JA, Graham DP. J. Trauma. Stress 2008; 23(3): 227-232.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1177/1533317507313373

PMID

18258723

Abstract

Aggression is often associated with dementia. In this study, aggression in veterans newly diagnosed with dementia was examined and characterized. Participants were >or=60 years diagnosed with dementia at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston, Texas, from 2001 to 2004. Aggression was defined as a positive caregiver response to 1 or more of 3 probes from the Ryden Aggression Scale, administered during a telephone screen. Of 1276 contacts, 385 (30%) were eligible and agreed to participate; at initial screening, 75 (19.5%) were aggressive (23 [31%] verbally, 9 [12%] physically, 24 [32%] verbally and physically, and 19 [25%] with unspecified aggression). The surprisingly high prevalence of aggression in individuals newly diagnosed with dementia suggests the potential usefulness of early screening for aggression in this population.

Language: en