Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease: Is there a difference? A comparison of symptoms by disease duration

This study examined differences between vascular dementia (VaD) by the NIND S/AIRENS criteria and Alzheimer's disease (AD) on clinical grounds. A conse cutive series of 517 patients with probable and possible VaD or AD were eva luated for cognitive, functional, and behavioral symptoms and separated int o three subgroups by duration of dementia. These AD and VaD subgroups were then compared on a series of standardized clinical measures. The only consi stent trends were for VaD patients to be more depressed, more functionally impaired, and less cognitively impaired within each disease duration subgro up. The authors conclude that there are few differences between clinically diagnosed VaD and AD. Subclassification of VaD into subgroups will improve the clinical utility of this nosologic entity.