The epidemiology of psychosis in dementia

Objective: Authors compared delusions, hallucinations, and misidentification delusions in Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) patients. Methods: The authors report data on the prevalence, severity, clinical, and demographic associations of these symptoms in a population sample of 260 persons with dementia, examined with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Results: The primary finding was that there was no difference in psychosis as a whole, or in delusions and hallucinations, between AD and VaD. Also, in AD, female gender appeared to be a risk factor for delusions; subjects in an earlier stage of dementia showed fewer delusions. Conclusion: The profile of delusions and hallucinations seen is different from that seen in schizophrenia, further supporting the hypothesis that AD-associated psychosis is a distinct phenomenological syndrome.