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57/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 57 out of 100. Caregiving

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Plain-language summary

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.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: Low

This is a narrative review. This 1997 review describes the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), which rates how often and how severely 12 behaviour and mood changes occur in dementia, such as delusions, agitation, apathy, night-time disturbance and eating changes. A caregiver answers scripted questions, and the tool also scores how much distress each symptom causes the caregiver.

Taken from this record’s own fields, not from reading the paper. The grade is assigned from the abstract’s wording; what that means.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Cummings, J. L. (1997). The Neuropsychiatric Inventory: assessing psychopathology in dementia patients. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.48.5_suppl_6.10s

Vancouver

Cummings JL. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory: assessing psychopathology in dementia patients. Neurology. 1997. doi:10.1212/wnl.48.5_suppl_6.10s. PMID: 9153155.

BibTeX

@article{cummings1997-9153155,
  author  = {Cummings, J. L.},
  title   = {{The Neuropsychiatric Inventory: assessing psychopathology in dementia patients}},
  journal = {Neurology},
  year    = {1997},
  doi     = {10.1212/wnl.48.5_suppl_6.10s},
  pmid    = {9153155},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.48.5_suppl_6.10s}
}

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.

How to read this study

Design: this is a narrative review. It summarises a field without a fixed search method, so it shows how authors read the evidence rather than measuring it. Use it to find the primary studies, not as a result in itself.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

The NPI is sensitive to treatment effects and has demonstrated the amelioration of behavioral symptoms in Alzheimer's disease by cholinergic agents.

Why it matters

This 1997 review describes the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), which rates how often and how severely 12 behaviour and mood changes occur in dementia, such as delusions, agitation, apathy, night-time disturbance and eating changes. A caregiver answers scripted questions, and the tool also scores how much distress each symptom causes the caregiver. The review states that the NPI is valid, reliable and able to detect treatment effects, including improvement with "cholinergic agents", but this record gives no figures, trials or patient numbers, so it explains how behaviour symptoms are measured rather than showing that any treatment works.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 57/100

Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology)
Journal's citation record	4 / 4	Neurology: journal h-index 525 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
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	1997 — 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)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	7 / 7	Cited 2,021 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	5 / 5	65.2 citations a year over 31 year(s) since 1997
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 6.8× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	4 / 6	Cited by 88 other studies in this library
Still being cited	4 / 4	Cited 231 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	4 / 4	Last-listed author Jeffrey L. Cummings: h-index 175 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of California, Los Angeles: institution h-index 1,923 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 9153155)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	57 / 100	—

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