Associations between cognition and neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with dementia: Protocol for a systematic review and multilevel meta‐analysis

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundNeuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), including depression, anxiety, apathy, aggression and agitation, among others, are highly prevalent in people with dementia (PWD), and are associated with lower quality of life and greater caregiver distress1.Over recent years there has been a proliferation of research aimed at exploring the cause of NPS and the relationships between them and impairment in specific cognitive abilities. Despite this interest, previous work has been limited mostly to cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies and, until now, systematic reviews on this topic have tended to focus on one symptom or type of dementia. The specific associations between cognitive impai..