Comparison of Apathy among patients with mild, moderate and severe Alzheimer's

 Apathy is the most common behavioral symptom in Alzheimer's disease, which occurs in most patients and appears in behaviors such as reduced onset, poor persistence, lack of interest, low social participation, weak emotional response, and despite its prevalence in Alzheimer's disease and its serious impact on families, is not yet well understood. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare the level of apathy in patients with mild, moderate and severe Alzheimer's disease.

 The current research was descriptive and causal-comparative. The population of the current study was all Alzheimer's patients in Alzheimer's treatment centers in Tabriz city in 2022 years. According to the purpose of the research, the sample size was 90 people, and according to the entry criteria, 30 people were determined for each group (mild, moderate and severe). The sampling method was non-random and Convenience Sampling. Radakovic and Abraham's dimensional apathy scale (27) was used to collect data. To analyze the data, univariate analysis of variance was used using SPSS version 23 software.

 The results showed that all three types of apathy subscales (executive, emotional and behavioral/cognitive initiative) were higher in the severe and advanced stages of the disease compared to the mild and moderate stages. In severe Alzheimer's group, executive apathy subscale (F=121/537, P=0.001), emotional (F=140/761, P=0.001) and behavioral/cognitive initiative (F=124/362, P=0.001) P=0) was different from the mild and moderate groups. In other words, the group with severe Alzheimer's experiences more apathy compared to the other two groups, and it seems that the more severe the Alzheimer's is, the greater the apathy.

 Apathy increases with the progress of Alzheimer's disease and acceleration of cognitive deficits. These findings show that apathy is a behavioral marker of "malignant Alzheimer's" and is associated with more severe behavioral problems and faster progression of cognitive, functional and emotional deficits.