Agitation in predementia and dementia is distressed affect that leads to poor moods and often aggression toward other people, such as family members and other caregivers.
Agitation is often part of dementia and often precedes the diagnosis of common age-related disorders of cognition such as Alzheimer's disease (AD).
The synonymy viewpoint views the whole topic as a single spectrum in which repetitive purposeless movements may arise or not, or recede, at various times.
If no such explanation is found, it is important to support caregivers and educate them about simple strategies such as distraction that may delay the transfer to institutional care (which is often triggered by the onset of agitation).
If this does not improve the symptoms, atypical antipsychotics may offer an alternative, although they are effective against agitation only in the short-term while posing a well-documented risk of cerebrovascular events (e.g. stroke).