Management of neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with dementia in palliative care
Keywords:
Neuropsychiatric symptoms, psychomotor agitation, palliative care, delirium, neurocognitive disordersAbstract
The treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms in palliative care directly influences the patient's quality of life. The aim of the study is to describe the current recommendations for the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms in palliative care. Clinical guidelines from the last 10 years were taken from databases such as Pubmed, TripDatabase and Google Scholar. With a strategy based on Mesh/DecS terms and Boolean operators. The PRISMA methodology was followed. 16 clinical practice guidelines on the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms were analyzed, in which it was observed that there are two treatment approaches: non-pharmacological and pharmacological. The first includes control of factors such as dehydration, pain, hyponatremia or hypoglycemia, in addition to environmental control, exposure to sunlight, and various strategies to achieve relaxation. The pharmacological approach involves using psychotropic drugs such as haloperidol, along with benzodiazepines, if there is no adequate response with non-pharmacological management. It was shown that adequate management of neuropsychiatric symptoms in palliative care is based on multidimensional care that not only focuses on reducing physical symptoms, but also considers the emotional and social well-being of the patient and his or her family.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Adriana Lisseth Escobar-Morillo, Diego Raúl Bonifaz-Díaz
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