Home › Research › Caregiving
Apathy in Alzheimer's disease
Landes AM, Sperry SD, Strauss ME, Geldmacher DS.. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2001-12-01
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
Apathy, or loss of motivation, is arguably the most common change in behavior in Alzheimer's disease (AD) but is underrecognized. Apathy represents a form of executive cognitive dysfunction. Patients with apathy suffer from decreased daily function and specific cognitive deficits and rely on families to provide more care, which results in increased stress for families. Apathy is one of the primary syndromes associated with frontal and subcortical pathology, and apathy in AD appears to have multiple neuroanatomical correlates that implicate components of frontal subcortical networks. Despite the profound effects of this common syndrome, only a few instruments have been designed to specifically assess apathy, and these instruments have not been directly compared. Assessment of apathy in AD requires clinicians to distinguish loss of motivation from loss of ability due to cognitive decline. Although apathy may be misdiagnosed as depression because of an overlap in symptoms, current research has shown apathy to be a discrete syndrome. Distinguishing apathy from depression has important treatment implications, because these disorders respond to different interventions. Further research is required to clarify the specific neuroanatomical and neuropsychological correlates of apathy and to determine how correct diagnosis and treatment of apathy may improve patient functioning and ease caregiver burden.
Key findings
- Patients with apathy suffer from decreased daily function and specific cognitive deficits and rely on families to provide more care, which results in increased stress for families.
- Apathy is one of the primary syndromes associated with frontal and subcortical pathology, and apathy in AD appears to have multiple neuroanatomical correlates that implicate components of frontal subcortical networks.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Caregiving →
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 36/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2001 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 11844006) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 21 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100. |
| Total | 36 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Landes, A. M., Sperry, S. D., Strauss, M. E., & Geldmacher, D. S. (2001). Apathy in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1532-5415.2001.49282.x
Vancouver
Landes AM, Sperry SD, Strauss ME, Geldmacher DS. Apathy in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2001. doi:10.1046/j.1532-5415.2001.49282.x. PMID: 11844006.
BibTeX
@article{landes2001-11844006,
author = {Landes, A. M. and Sperry, S. D. and Strauss, M. E. and Geldmacher, D. S.},
title = {{Apathy in Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {Journal of the American Geriatrics Society},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1046/j.1532-5415.2001.49282.x},
pmid = {11844006},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1532-5415.2001.49282.x}
}
Related studies in Caregiving
Also in Caregiving
69 studies in the library are filed under Caregiving with no topic tag they share with another; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed tour of them. The Caregiving hub.