2.1. Participants

The study included 194 outpatients who had been referred to our memory clinic (“Nestor” Greek Psychogeriatric Association) during the previous 12 months, as well as their 194 responsible caregivers. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of AD, or vascular dementia [DSM-IV] [8], or Dementia with Lewy Bodies [9], or frontotemporal dementia [10]. Exclusion criteria were as follows: permanent or transient severely impaired consciousness or delirium during the previous month; newly started antipsychotic medication during the last week before test administration; absence of available data in psychometric scales (Figure 1). All patients if possible and their caregivers were fully informed about the purpose of the study and provided written informed consent. The study was approved by the Local Ethical Committee of the Psychogeriatric Association and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, as revised in 1983.

Flow chart with the participants of the present study.