Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH.
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University.
Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2019 Apr-Jun;33(2):154-159. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0000000000000302.
Sexual disinhibition in dementia is understudied and discrepant frequency rates are reported. Measures designed to capture general disinhibition may under-identify sexual disinhibition, and lack of assessment uniformity may contribute to inconsistent endorsement. The current study aimed to determine: (1) whether an item from a commonly used measure tapping into general disinhibition would detect sexual disinhibition, (2) whether differently worded items specifically addressing sexual disinhibition would elicit inconsistent endorsement, and (3) whether different caregiver types would yield discrepant endorsement.
Data for this cross-sectional, observational study were collected online using items from the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory, and novel items developed to assess sexual disinhibition.
In total, 779 family dementia caregivers were recruited from social media caregiver groups.
In total, 26.2% of caregivers who explicitly endorsed sexual disinhibition did not endorse general disinhibition. Frequency of endorsement for sexual disinhibition differed depending upon item wording and nature of the caregiver relationship, including higher endorsement by spouses overall.
Inquiring generally about disinhibition may under-identify presence of sexual disinhibition. Lack of standardization may contribute to inconsistent frequency rates and characterization of this problem. More work is needed to better understand and identify sexual disinhibition in dementia.
痴呆患者的性行为抑制障碍研究不足，且报道的频率存在差异。旨在捕捉一般抑制障碍的措施可能无法识别性行为抑制障碍，且评估方法不统一可能导致结果不一致。本研究旨在确定：（1）常用的一般抑制障碍评估工具中的一个项目是否能检测到性行为抑制障碍；（2）专门针对性行为抑制障碍的不同措辞项目是否会引起不一致的认可；（3）不同类型的照顾者是否会产生不同的认可。
本横断面观察性研究的数据通过使用神经精神疾病问卷、科恩-曼斯菲尔德激越量表和新开发的评估性行为抑制障碍的项目在线收集。
共有 779 名来自社交媒体照顾者群体的家庭痴呆症照顾者参与。
共有 26.2%明确认可性行为抑制障碍的照顾者不认可一般抑制障碍。性行为抑制障碍的认可频率取决于项目措辞和照顾者关系的性质，包括配偶的总体认可率更高。
笼统地询问抑制障碍可能会导致性行为抑制障碍的漏诊。缺乏标准化可能导致频率不一致和对该问题的不一致描述。需要进一步研究以更好地理解和识别痴呆患者的性行为抑制障碍。
