Alcohol-related dementia: validation of diagnostic criteria.
OBJECTIVE
The authors sought to validate the diagnostic criteria for alcohol-related dementia.


METHODS
The sample consisted of veterans consecutively admitted to a 240-bed VA Nursing Home Care Unit. Baseline and follow-up assessments included measures of cognition and functioning. The diagnosis and type of dementia was determined within 2 months of admission by a geropsychiatrist using patient interviews, chart review, and information from a structured collateral interview. Residents were followed for up to 2 years.


RESULTS
Data were collected on 192 of the residents, of whom, 158 (82%) were diagnosed with some form of dementia. Alcohol-related dementia (ARD) was diagnosed in 16 residents (10.1%), probable Alzheimer dementia (AD), in 26 (16.5%); vascular dementia (VD), in 46 (29.1); and mixed or dementia of undetermined origin, in 70 (44.3%). Those with ARD were less cognitively impaired and were more often unmarried. Residents with ARD demonstrated a stabilization of both cognition and functional status, whereas those with AD and VD showed a general decline in both cognition and functional status.


CONCLUSIONS
These results serve to validate the diagnostic criteria for ARD and suggest that abstinence may be of clinical value in treating patients with dementia and alcohol dependence. Further research needs to be conducted to confirm the value of abstinence.
Oslin
David W
DW
Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. oslin@mail.med.upenn.edu
Cary
Mark S
MS
D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires