In this study we have evaluated sleep disorders in patients with dementia,
including vascular dementia (VD), Alzheimer disease (AD), mixed dementia (M
XD) and other dementias (OD), and in control subjects (CS) by using the Sen
ile Dementia-Associated Sleep Disorders Scale (SDASDS), which consists of t
wo subscales evaluating sleep disorders (SDASDS-SA) and dementia associated
symptoms (SDASDS-DA), respectively. As compared to control subjects, mean
SDASDS scores were significantly increased in VD and MXD, but not in early
and late onset AD nor in OD. SDASDS values correlated significantly with sc
ores obtained in other psychometric tools, specially ADASnoncog, these corr
elations being higher for the SDASDS-DA than for the SDASDS-SA subscale. Th
us, it seems that sleep disorders are more prevalent in VD and MXD and corr
elate with behavioral disturbances.