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Clinical Lewy body dementia and the impact of vascular components

Londos, Elisabet LU ; Passant, Ulla LU ; Brun, Arne LU and Gustafson, Lars LU (2000) In International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 15(1). p.40-49
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of patients fulfilling the clinical consensus criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) in a dementia population followed up with postmortem examination. To compare the clinical and neuropathological findings in the clinical Lewy body dementia (LBD) group with findings in a clinically defined group with Alzheimer's disease (AD). DESIGN: Medical records from 200 patients were studied retrospectively. Clinical consensus criteria for DLB and clinical criteria for other dementias were applied. SETTING: The majority of the cases were examined and cared for in psychogeriatric and psychiatric departments. PATIENTS: The patients, who died between 1985 and 1994, were part of a longitudinal dementia project.... (More)
OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of patients fulfilling the clinical consensus criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) in a dementia population followed up with postmortem examination. To compare the clinical and neuropathological findings in the clinical Lewy body dementia (LBD) group with findings in a clinically defined group with Alzheimer's disease (AD). DESIGN: Medical records from 200 patients were studied retrospectively. Clinical consensus criteria for DLB and clinical criteria for other dementias were applied. SETTING: The majority of the cases were examined and cared for in psychogeriatric and psychiatric departments. PATIENTS: The patients, who died between 1985 and 1994, were part of a longitudinal dementia project. Each case was neuropathologically examined. Main outcome measures Prevalence of clinical signs and neuropathology was compared between the clinical groups. RESULTS: Forty-eight (24%) patients fulfilled the clinical criteria for DLB while 45 (22%) fulfilled the clinical criteria for Alzheimer's disease. The clinical LBD group had a higher Hachinski score compared to the clinical AD group. They also showed a tendency towards a 'frontal profile' with disinhibition, confusion, personality change and vocally disruptive behaviour. More than 80% of the AD and LBD groups respectively exhibited Alzheimer pathology. The LBD group had frontal white matter pathology and degeneration of the substantia nigra more often than the clinical AD group. Both LBD and AD groups showed a progressive and marked increase in severity of dementia and decrease in ADL capacity according to an evaluation based on the Berger scale and Katz index. The condition of the LBD group was significantly worse earlier in dementia. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that patients fulfilling the clinical criteria for DLB also exhibit clinical features of possible vascular origin and a frontal profile. Subcortical vascular pathology, nigral degeneration and AD pathology in this group could partly explain the clinical features used to define DLB. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
volume
15
issue
1
pages
40 - 49
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:10637403
  • scopus:0033980517
ISSN
1099-1166
DOI
10.1002/(SICI)1099-1166(200001)15:1<40::AID-GPS74>3.0.CO;2-S
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Psychiatry/Primary Care/Public Health (013240500), Department of Psychogeriatrics (013304000), Pathology, (Lund) (013030000)
id
0afd8ad1-c260-44bf-87d0-c423655560e6 (old id 1117780)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:36:47
date last changed
2022-03-29 03:14:03
@article{0afd8ad1-c260-44bf-87d0-c423655560e6,
  abstract     = {{OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of patients fulfilling the clinical consensus criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) in a dementia population followed up with postmortem examination. To compare the clinical and neuropathological findings in the clinical Lewy body dementia (LBD) group with findings in a clinically defined group with Alzheimer's disease (AD). DESIGN: Medical records from 200 patients were studied retrospectively. Clinical consensus criteria for DLB and clinical criteria for other dementias were applied. SETTING: The majority of the cases were examined and cared for in psychogeriatric and psychiatric departments. PATIENTS: The patients, who died between 1985 and 1994, were part of a longitudinal dementia project. Each case was neuropathologically examined. Main outcome measures Prevalence of clinical signs and neuropathology was compared between the clinical groups. RESULTS: Forty-eight (24%) patients fulfilled the clinical criteria for DLB while 45 (22%) fulfilled the clinical criteria for Alzheimer's disease. The clinical LBD group had a higher Hachinski score compared to the clinical AD group. They also showed a tendency towards a 'frontal profile' with disinhibition, confusion, personality change and vocally disruptive behaviour. More than 80% of the AD and LBD groups respectively exhibited Alzheimer pathology. The LBD group had frontal white matter pathology and degeneration of the substantia nigra more often than the clinical AD group. Both LBD and AD groups showed a progressive and marked increase in severity of dementia and decrease in ADL capacity according to an evaluation based on the Berger scale and Katz index. The condition of the LBD group was significantly worse earlier in dementia. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that patients fulfilling the clinical criteria for DLB also exhibit clinical features of possible vascular origin and a frontal profile. Subcortical vascular pathology, nigral degeneration and AD pathology in this group could partly explain the clinical features used to define DLB.}},
  author       = {{Londos, Elisabet and Passant, Ulla and Brun, Arne and Gustafson, Lars}},
  issn         = {{1099-1166}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{40--49}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{Clinical Lewy body dementia and the impact of vascular components}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1166(200001)15:1<40::AID-GPS74>3.0.CO;2-S}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/(SICI)1099-1166(200001)15:1<40::AID-GPS74>3.0.CO;2-S}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2000}},
}