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About half of demented patients develop apathy. To determine the prognostic implication of this feature before the onset of dementia, Dutch researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 16 longitudinal studies of patients with subjective cognitive concerns (SCC), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), cognitive impairment without dementia, and no cognitive impairment. Data synthesized came from 7299 patients (median age, 72) followed prospectively for a median of 2.4 years.
At baseline, apathy, as defined by standardized scales, was present in 20% of subjects. The overall risk for developing dementia was approximately doubled in memory clinic patients who had apathy at baseline. The risk was doubled in patients with MCI and might have been considerably…