THE DEMENTIA OF BINSWANGER-DISEASE AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL-ASPECTS

Neurobehavioral investigations of vascular dementia have been hindered by the clinical heterogeneity within this group. Patients with vascul ar dementia in the current study were diagnosed with Binswanger's dise ase (BD) according to recently specified clinical and radiologic crite ria. Patients with BD and Alzheimer's disease (AD) were assessed on Ma ttis' Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), the Rush Patient Behavior Checklist (RPBC), and the Hamilton Rating Scale (HRS) for depression. The two s amples were comparable in terms of age, education, and Mini-Mental Sta te Examination scores. Of the DRS subscales, only Conceptualization sh owed a differential performance, with BD patients having lower scores than AD patients. BD patients also had higher scores on the RPBC Apath y subscale as well as more depressive symptoms on the HRS. The finding s are discussed in terms of differential diagnosis of these dementia s yndromes.