The prevalence and characteristics of hallucinations, delusions and minor phenomena in a non-demented population sample aged 60 years and over.

OBJECTIVE

Psychotic phenomena can occur in non-clinical subjects. The goals of this study were to assess the prevalence of delusions, hallucinations and minor 'psychotic' phenomena (visual illusions, feeling of presence and passage hallucinations) and to describe the characteristics of the latter in a non-clinical older population.

METHODS

Three hundred and thirteen individuals aged 60 years and older, without cognitive deficits (according to mini-mental state examination scores) or patent psychotic disease, answered a structured questionnaire focusing on delusions, hallucinations and minor phenomena that they had experienced in the previous month. The study sample was stratified by age and gender according to French demographic characteristics.

RESULTS

Twenty per cent of participants reported one or more psychotic phenomena. These subjects did not differ from those without psychotic symptoms as regards their age, mini-mental state examination scores or education. Minor phenomena were the most common (13%). Hallucinations, in any sensory modality, occurred in 9% of participants. No verbal auditory hallucinations or delusions were reported. The prevalence of minor phenomena increased with age and was associated with the use of psychoactive drugs.

CONCLUSION

By extending the spectrum of psychotic symptoms to minor phenomena, we found that psychotic symptoms were common in a non-clinical older population. Whether the increasing prevalence of minor phenomena with age is due to prodromal neurodegenerative disease or to other factors remains to be investigated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.