[Diogenes syndrome in the elderly: clinical form of frontal dysfunction? Report of 4 cases].
OBJECTIVE
Diogenes syndrome is characterised by self-neglect and domestic squalor which leads to unhealthy living conditions. It seems that no single model satisfactorily explains the development of Diogenes syndrome.


METHODS
We report four cases of Diogenes syndrome discovered during a short-stay geriatric hospitalization. We were able to analyse them as regards social, physical, psychiatric and cognitive aspects.


RESULTS
The results showed absence of socioeconomic precariousness, psychiatric and physical pathologies which generate handicaps. A dementia characterised by a frontal dysfunction was constantly found.


CONCLUSIONS
Diogenes syndrome seems to be a particular behavioural demonstration of a frontal lobe dementia. It does not correspond to a lucid life choice, which must encourage a medico-social assumption.
Beauchet
O
O
Service de gérontologie clinique, hôpital de la Charité, CHU, 42055 Saint-Etienne, France. olivier.beauchet@chu-st-etienne.fr
Imler
D
D
Cadet
L
L
Blanc
P
P
Ramboa
P
P
Girtanner
C
C
Gonthier
R
R
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D013577:Syndrome