Visual hallucinations in patients from an ophthalmology clinic and medical clinic population

J Nerv Ment Dis. 1994 May;182(5):273-6. doi: 10.1097/00005053-199405000-00004.

Abstract

Although visual hallucinations have been associated with patients with visual disorders, no study has specifically examined whether visual hallucinations are indeed more prevalent than in a general medical population. In this study, 127 consecutive visual disorder patients and 100 consecutive general medical patients were screened for complex visual hallucinations. A total of 6.3% of visual disorder patients and 2% of general medical patients had visual hallucinations. Interestingly, the two medical patients with visual hallucinations also had visual disorders. Factors significantly associated with visual hallucinations were female sex (p = .029) and lower cognitive score (p = .001). Data from a previous study of patients with the visual disorder age-related macular degeneration were combined with this study to increase the sample size of visual hallucinators. Factors significantly associated with visual hallucinations in the combined sample were female sex (p = .015), living alone (p = .019), having hearing problems (p = .047), older age (p = .013), and lower cognitive score (p < .001). Implications and future research are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Comorbidity
  • Depressive Disorder / diagnosis
  • Depressive Disorder / psychology
  • Eye Diseases / diagnosis
  • Eye Diseases / epidemiology
  • Eye Diseases / psychology
  • Female
  • Hallucinations / diagnosis*
  • Hallucinations / epidemiology
  • Hallucinations / psychology
  • Humans
  • Macular Degeneration / diagnosis
  • Macular Degeneration / epidemiology
  • Macular Degeneration / psychology
  • Male
  • Personality Inventory
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / statistics & numerical data
  • Residence Characteristics
  • Sex Factors
  • Vision Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Vision Disorders / epidemiology
  • Vision Disorders / psychology
  • Visual Perception