VARIABLES LINKED TO PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOMS IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

This study is aimed at assessing the prevalence and features of psycho tic symptoms in a sample of 180 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) . Sixty-four patients (35.5% of the sample) showed one or more psychot ic symptoms. The presence of these symptoms correlated with the severi ty of the patients' cognitive impairment, as well as the patients' age at first assessement. Sex, duration of illness, education and familia r history for dementia were not significantly correlated with the psyc hotic symptoms. Hallucination was the most common symptom (24.4%, of t he whole sample), followed by delusion (18.3%) and misperception (11.1 %). Visual hallucinations were more frequent than auditory, and, among delusions, persecutory and theft themes were largely prevailing. Misp erceptions included television related phenomena and phantom boarder i llusions. A follow-up study of 37 patients demonstrated the associatio n between the presence of psychotic symptoms and a steeper slope of co gnitive deterioration. Eur J Neurol 5:553-560 (C) 1998 Lippincott Will iams & Wilkins.