• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.459-469
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine different patterns of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and caregiver burden according to dementia type. Data were collected from June 2014 to December 2014 from five nursing homes. In all, 214 patients [131 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 83 patients with Vascular dementia (VD)] were included in the study. BPSD and caregiver burden data were examined using NPI-NH (Neuropsychiatric Inventory Nursing Home Version). According to the results, both the AD and VD group showed the highest frequency in apathy/indifference and the frequency of anxiety, elation/euphoria, and irritability/lability was significantly higher in the AD group than in the VD group. The difference in total BPSD composite scores between the AD and VD groups was not significant but agitation/aggression was significantly higher in the AD group than in the VD group. The mean score for caregiver burden was significantly higher in the AD group than in the VD group, particularly in agitation/aggression. In conclusion, BPSD differed according to dementia type, and nurses should provide specific interventions to control BPSD; a program to reduce caregiver burden according to dementia type is also needed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.391-397
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of recreation therapy program on cognitive function and balance sensation of demented elderly patients. The subjects were 16 elderly patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia, divided into experimental group and control group. Recreation therapy program was provided to experimental group for 6 months and the change of cognitive function and balance before and after treatment was analyzed in both groups. The research concluded that the recreation therapy program maintained or even enhanced cognitive function and balance in the elderly with Alzheimer's dementia. The development along with the verification of effectiveness of non-pharmacological methods such as recreational therapy contributed to the study of treatment for the elderly with dementia.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 1997

The changes of electroencephalogram(EEG) in patients with dementia are most commonly studied by analyzing power or magnitude in certain traditionally defined frequency bands. However because of the absence of an identified metric which quantifies the complex amount of information, there are many limitations in using such a linear method. According to chaos theory, irregular signals of EEG can also result from low dimensional deterministic chaos. Chaotic nonlinear dynamics in the EEG can be studied by calculating the correlation dimension. The authors have analyzed EEG epochs from three patients with dementia of Alzheimer type and three matched control subjects. The multichannel correlation dimension is calculated from EEG epochs consisting of 15 channels with 16,384 data points per channel. The results showed that patients with dementia of Alzheimer type had significantly lower correlation dimension than non-demented controls on 12 channels. Topographic analysis showed that the correlation dimensions were significantly lower in patients with Alzheimer's disease on frontal, temporal, central, and occipital head regions. These results show that brains of patients with dementia of Alzheimer type have a decreased complexity of electrophysiological behavior. We conclude that the nonlinear analysis such as calculating correlation dimension can be a promising tool for detecting relative changes in the complexity of brain dynamics.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2015

Purpose: Confronting the growing burden of dementia requires understanding the causes and predictors of dementia in order to develop preventive strategies. In Korea a large proportion (71%) of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, and the risk factors have not yet been elucidated. Dietary factors may be possible risk factors, however research on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and dietary behaviors has been insufficient. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between compliance with the "Dietary Guidelines for Elderly (The Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2011)" and Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly. Methods: Elderly persons who visited a University hospital or a dementia center of Seoul and agreed to participate in the examinations were selected. Among 277 subjects, 89 Alzheimer patients were selected with diagnosis and 118 subjects were assigned to the control group. Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was based on Alzheimer's disease criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) and criteria of National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA). Information on the general characteristics, health related behaviors and compliance with the dietary guidelines for Korean elderly was collected by face to face interview using a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric variables were measured during the survey. Results: Total compliance score of dietary guidelines was significantly lower in the Alzheimer's disease group than in the control group (p = 0.0001). The odds ratio of Alzheimer's disease was significantly decreased in the group with the highest dietary guideline compliance score (OR = 0.47, 95 % CI = 0.18~1.09) compared to the group with the lowest compliance score. Conclusion: The results indicate that increasing compliance with the dietary guidelines could be an effective strategy to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.105-113
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• 2019

This study examined the effects of geriatric depression and geriatric stress on cognitive impairment. In particular, the dementia groups were divided into Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. A normal group was used as the control group. For each group, the geriatric depression using the geriatric depression scale (GDS) and geriatric stress using the geriatric stress scale (GSS) was compared with the regression and correlation results of cognitive impairment. Statistical tests, such as descriptive statistics, Kruskall-Wallis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis, were performed. For the Alzheimer's group, the GDS and GSS correlated with the cognitive impairment, but only the GDS showed a cause-and-effect relationship with cognitive impairment. In particular, the male group with Alzheimer's disease showed clear confirmation. In addition, geriatric stress was found to be associated with geriatric depression. In conclusion, geriatric depression affects the cognitive impairment directly and geriatric stress affects the cognitive ability indirectly through geriatric depression. In this study, the Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and control groups had a small sample size. Therefore, the external validity in future studies can be increased using a larger sample size for each group.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.103-110
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• 2019

The present study investigated the effects of AD on stereoscopic vision. Sixty participants (20 AD patients, 20 mild cognitive impairment patients, 20 healthy elderly controls) participated in the study. Two cubes, one on the left and the other on the right of the center of the monitor, appeared at varying distances from the observer with their relative distances controlled in two disparity conditions (absolute vs relative disparity) combined with two disparity directions (crossed vs uncrossed disparity). Participants identified the object that appeared closer to them. Results demonstrated comparable performance with all three groups performing accurately, suggesting that the effect of AD on stereopsis is negligible. Discussion focused on brain pathology affected by AD involving high level visual processing.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2014

Objectives : Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD) represent significant clinical problems, resulting in functional decline, caregiver distress, institutionalization and increased mortality. A recent study showed gender differences have important role in the development of BPSD, but relationship between BPSD and gender has never been studied in Korea. This study was designed to examine whether patients with Alzheimer's disease show gender differences in behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD). Methods : Ninety-eight subjects with Alzheimer's disease were included in this study. We carried out history taking and cognitive assessment for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease based on DSM-IV. Cognitive impairment and BPSD were measured using the Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE), Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR) and the Korean Neuropsychiatric Inventory(K-NPI). Independent samples t-test was used to examine the differences across gender in BPSD. Correlation analysis between MMSE, CDR, GDS and NPI was performed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results : There were no significant gender differences between the gender in BPSD. We found statistically significant negative correlations between MMSE with NPI total score, and with scores of several sub-domains such as hallucination. Conclusions : This study showed that gender differences in BPSD are not significant. Further research is necessary to identify whether BPSD affect gender differences or individual differences.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.59-68
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• 2000

An increase in senile dementia population has caused social concerns in Korea. The Korean-Boston Naming Test(K-BNT) has been used in assessing naming ability of patients with diffuse brain damage as well as senile dementia. This study was conducted to develop a short from of the K-BNT. to present normative data, and to demonstrate clinical utility of the shortform K-BNT. The participants were 142 healthy elderly adults, ages between 55 and 84, who were sampled in the Seoul-Kyungki area. Twenty patients with mild probable DAT participated in the study. We developed four norms based on education(0∼6 years and more than 6 years) and age(55∼64 and 65∼84 years). The study showed high internal consistency among the items. Further. DAT patients and normal controls showed significant difference in the K-BNT short form scores(F(1, 158) = 23,216, p < .0001). Normative data presented in this study will be useful in evaluating the naming ability of elderly patients in clinical setting.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.477-486
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• 2020

This study was undertaken to analyze the correlation between depression and memory, by considering the occurrence of ApoE ɛ4 and clinical dementia rating in the elderly with Alzheimer's dementia. This study included 50 participants over 65 years of age, evaluated with CDR 0.5 to 2. We performed CDR, SVLT-E, RCFT, SGDS-K, and ApoE genotyping. Spearman's correlation analysis was used for determining the correlation between depression and memory. The results indicate a significant negative correlation between depression and immediate recall verbal memory in the CDR 1 and 2 without ApoE ɛ4 carrier group (p<0.05). Furthermore, a significant negative correlation was also determined between depression and delayed recall verbal memory in the CDR 1 of the same group. Ed. Notes: The previous sentence already shows this correlation. I suggest this should be deleted from this statement. However, no significant correlation was observed between depression and visual memory. This study found a significant correlation between depression and immediate recall verbal memory. Also, the presence of ApoE ɛ4 indicates a significant correlation between depression and delayed verbal recall memory. Taken together, our results indicate that verbal memory training rather than visual memory training can be more effective in early AD. Also, the treatment of depression will provide a complementary effect.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2019

Objectives : The aim of this study was to compare severity, neurocognitive functions, and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) according to the degree of temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) in Korean patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease. Methods : Participants were 114 elderly subjects diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment in this cross-sectional study. MTA in brain MRI was rated with standardized visual rating scales (Scheltens scale) and the subjects were divided into two groups according to Scheltens scale. Severity was evaluated with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and Global Deterioration Scale (GDS). Neurocognitive functions was evaluated with the Korean version of Short Blessed Test (SBT-K) and the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease assessment packet (CERAD-K). BPSD was evaluated with the Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI). Independent t-test was performed to compare severity, neurocognitive functions, and BPSD between two groups. Results : The group with high severity of MTA showed significantly lower scores in CDR, SBT-K, MMSE-KC, modified Boston naming test, word list recognition, and word list memory (p<0.05). There were no differences in K-NPI scores between two groups. Conclusions : Severity and neurocognitive functions of dementia had significant positive association with MTA, but BPSD had no association with MTA. Evaluating MTA seems to have potential benefit in diagnosing and treating neurocognitive impairments in the elderly. Further evaluation is needed to confirm the association between certain brain structures and BPSD.