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Objectives This study investigates the factors associated with the impairment of awareness in mild dementia. Methods Using a longitudinal design, 69 people with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), and their family caregivers were interviewed and reassessed after one year. The dyads completed the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (QoL-AD), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (PFAQ), the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), and the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Univariate and ordinal regression analyses were conducted to examine the contribution of the various factors. Results The level of awareness of disease presented a significant difference (p Conclusions At least in the earlier stages of dementia, it should not be assumed that awareness will inevitably decrease as dementia progresses. The results confirmed that awareness and cognition are relatively independent, and showed that in mild PwD awareness is mainly manifested by poor recognition of changes in ADLs.

Objectives This study aimed to 1) determine changes over time in PwD and caregiver ratings of PwD QoL 2) to identify the factors associated with any changes in QoLratings and 3) to identify any discrepancies between PwD and caregiver ratings of PwD QoL. Methods Using a longitudinal design, we investigated QoL of 69 people with mild Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. We examined the influence of awareness of disease, cognitive status, mood, functionality, neuropsychiatric symptoms and burden. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine the contribution of the various co-factors. Results At baseline, we observed that caregivers’s QoL was associated to PwD QoL (t= 3.557, p Conclusions In mild dementia, the cognitive impairment and functionality were not the primary factors that accounted in PwD and family caregivers’ ratings of QoL. Our findings suggested that there was an association between PwD and caregivers’ QoL over time. In addition, non-cognitive factors, such as awareness of disease and mood played an important role in PwD and caregivers’ QoL ratings.