Validity and reliability of the newly translated Hellenic Neuropsychiatric Inventory (H-NPI) applied to Greek outpatients with Alzheimer's disease: a study of disturbing behaviors among referrals to a memory clinic

Context No rating scales of the neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have previously been developed or translated. Objectives To develop a Hellenic translation of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), to evaluate it's reliability and validity, and to compare NPI results in Greek patients referred to a neuropsychiatry clinic for either of two reasons: disturbing behaviors evoking embarrassment and disturbing behaviors evoking fear in the caregiver. Methods The Hellenic translations of the NPI, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and Emotional Distress Scale (EDS) were compared in evaluating 29 consecutive referrals of patients with AD. Results The Hellenic NPI (H-NPI) demonstrated a high degree of internal consistency reliability, and of concurrent validity when compared to the BPRS or the EDS. Patients referred for behaviors evoking embarrassment presented with higher scores on NPI ratings of apathy. However, patients referred for behaviors evoking fear presented with higher scores on NPI ratings of aggression and irritability. Conclusions These results indicate that the H-NPI is a reliable instrument, able to detect differences in clinically referred groups of AD patients. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.