The epidemiology of psychosis in dementia.
OBJECTIVE
Authors compared delusions, hallucinations, and misidentification delusions in Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) patients.


METHODS
The authors report data on the prevalence, severity, clinical, and demographic associations of these symptoms in a population sample of 260 persons with dementia, examined with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory.


RESULTS
The primary finding was that there was no difference in psychosis as a whole, or in delusions and hallucinations, between AD and VaD. Also, in AD, female gender appeared to be a risk factor for delusions; subjects in an earlier stage of dementia showed fewer delusions.


CONCLUSIONS
The profile of delusions and hallucinations seen is different from that seen in schizophrenia, further supporting the hypothesis that AD-associated psychosis is a distinct phenomenological syndrome.
Leroi
Iracema
I
Neuropsychiatry Service, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Voulgari
Argyro
A
Breitner
John C S
JC
Lyketsos
Constantine G
CG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*