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Comparative Study
. 2016 Mar;29(2):65-71.
doi: 10.1177/0891988715606229. Epub 2015 Sep 24.

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Posterior Cortical Atrophy and Alzheimer Disease

Aida Suárez-González  1 , Sebastian J Crutch  2 , Emilio Franco-Macías  3 , Eulogio Gil-Néciga  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Posterior Cortical Atrophy and Alzheimer Disease

Aida Suárez-González et al. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2016 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by early progressive visual dysfunction in the context of relative preservation of memory and a pattern of atrophy mainly involving the posterior cortex. The aim of the present study is to characterize the neuropsychiatric profile of PCA.

Methods: The Neuropsychiatric Inventory was used to assess 12 neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in 28 patients with PCA and 34 patients with typical Alzheimer disease (AD) matched by age, disease duration, and illness severity.

Results: The most commonly reported NPS in both groups were depression, anxiety, apathy, and irritability. However, aside from a trend toward lower rates of apathy in patients with PCA, there were no differences in the percentage of NPS presented in each group. All those patients presenting visual hallucinations in the PCA group also met diagnostic criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Auditory hallucinations were only present in patients meeting diagnosis criteria for DLB.

Conclusion: Prevalence of the 12 NPS examined was similar between patients with PCA and AD. Hallucinations in PCA may be helpful in the differential diagnosis between PCA-AD and PCA-DLB.

Keywords: neuropsychiatric inventory; neuropsychiatric symptoms; posterior cortical atrophy; visual hallucinations.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with PCA and AD. AMB, indicates abnormal motor behavior; NBD, nightime behavioral disturbances; PCA, posterior cortical atrophy; AD, Alzheimer disease. Symptoms are ordered from more to less frequent in the PCA group.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Relationship between age at onset and anxiety in PCA and AD. *Statistically significant difference, P = .020. PCA indicates posterior cortical atrophy; AD, Alzheimer disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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