Abstract Background. Neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia (NPS) such as agitation, hallucinations or anxiety occur in 70% of patients with dementia. The treatment of these symptoms consists often...Show moreAbstract Background. Neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia (NPS) such as agitation, hallucinations or anxiety occur in 70% of patients with dementia. The treatment of these symptoms consists often of antipsychotics. NPS reduce quality of life (QoL). The effects of antipsychotics can increase or decrease QoL in patients with dementia. It is currently unknown whether a decrease in NPS because of treatment, simultaneously lead to an improvement of QoL. Objective. This study investigated whether the number of antipsychotic treatments mediates the influence of NPS on QoL. Method. This study is a longitudinal correlational trial. A total of 113 patients (Mage= 87; SDage= 6.95; 75.2% female) with advanced dementia, divided over 9 nursing homes were included. This study used the questionnaires Quality of Life in Late-Stage Dementia (QUALID) and Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) and the number prescribed antipsychotics. Mediation analyses were performed at baseline and after six months follow-up by Preacher and Hayes (2018) to determine whether the number antipsychotics mediate the effect of NPS on QoL. Results. For the baseline measurement, more NPS lead to lower QoL (b = .4545, s.e. = .0643, p < .001). More antipsychotics lead to lower QoL (b = 1.7469, s.e. = .8321, p = .038). Patients with more NPS received a larger number of prescribed antipsychotics (b = .0198, s.e. = .0073, p = .008). These findings were confirmed at the measurements after six months, except the correlation between the number of antipsychotics and lower QoL which was not significant anymore. The effect of NPS on QoL at baseline is mediated by the number of prescribed antipsychotics 95% CI [.0017, .0845]. When measured six months later, this effect is not found. Conclusion. The number of antipsychotics mediate the influence of NPS on QoL at baseline. This mediation effect was not found at the six months follow-up. There are indications that treating NPS with antipsychotics does not necessarily lead to a higher QoL.Show less
