Abstract
Background/aims:
To explore the presenting and early symptoms of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).
Method:
Patients with mild dementia fulfilling diagnostic criteria for DLB (n = 61) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 109) were recruited from outpatient dementia clinics in western Norway. At diagnosis, caregivers were asked which symptom had been the presenting symptom of dementia.
Results:
Caregivers reported that memory impairment was the most common presenting symptom in DLB (57%), followed by visual hallucinations (44%), depression (34%), problem solving difficulties (33%), gait problems (28%), and tremor/stiffness (25%). In contrast, 99% of AD carers reported impaired memory as a presenting symptom, whereas visual hallucinations were a presenting symptom in 3% of the AD cases.
Conclusion:
DLB should be suspected in predementia cases with visual hallucinations.
Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Aged
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Aged, 80 and over
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Alzheimer Disease / diagnosis
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Alzheimer Disease / diagnostic imaging
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Alzheimer Disease / psychology
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Caregivers
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Cognition / physiology
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Delirium / etiology
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Depression / etiology
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Depression / psychology
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Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
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Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / metabolism
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Educational Status
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Female
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Gait Disorders, Neurologic / etiology
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Hallucinations / etiology
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Humans
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Lewy Body Disease / diagnosis
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Lewy Body Disease / diagnostic imaging
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Lewy Body Disease / psychology*
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Male
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Middle Aged
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Neuropsychological Tests
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Norway
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Radiopharmaceuticals
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Retrospective Studies
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Surveys and Questionnaires
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Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
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Tremor / etiology
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Tropanes
Substances
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Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
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Radiopharmaceuticals
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Tropanes
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2-carbomethoxy-8-(3-fluoropropyl)-3-(4-iodophenyl)tropane