ABSTRACT
The term dementia refers to a clinical syndrome characterized by impairment of cognitive functions that is severe enough to interfere with the daily social and working activities. In addition to cognitive decline, noncognitive symptoms affecting the sphere of personality, emotions, perception, and behavior are often present in patients with dementia (Raudino, 2013). These symptoms are a heterogeneous group of psychological reactions and psychiatric behaviors that can be variously associated with each other. They are often uctuating (i.e., they are not present at each assessment) and may precede the onset of dementia and worsen with the evolution of the disease, contributing to signicantly increased disability, morbidity, hospitalization, and economic cost for patient management. Moreover, they are a cause of stress for caregivers (Finkel, 2003).
