Delusions in patients with very mild, mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease.

PURPOSE

To compare the prevalence of delusions in different stages in Taiwanese patients with very mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD).

METHODS

A consecutive series of 91 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease visited the dementia clinic in a regional hospital in mid-Taiwan were enrolled in this study. All patients were examined with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI), and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale.

RESULTS

The prevalence rate of any delusion in very mild, mild and moderate AD was 35.2%. Delusions of other persons are stealing was most common (27.5%), followed by delusions of self is in danger (15.4%), house is not his/her home (5.5%), family plans to abandon him/her (4.4%), spouse is having an affair (2.2%), an unwelcome guest is living in the house (2.2%), media persons are in the house (2.2%), and others aren't who they claim (1.1%). The prevalence rates of delusions is 33% in very mild AD, 30% in mild AD and 48% in moderate AD. AD (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Delusions are common neuropsychiatric symptoms in very early stage as well as in later stages of Taiwanese patients with AD and it deserves the attention that delusions may be characteristic of very mild AD.