Neuropsychological profile of Alzheimer's disease in women: moderate and moderately severe cognitive decline.

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterised by progressive cognitive and functional decline. There is evidence that AD is more prevalent in women. This study aims at identifying the clinical and sociodemographic variables associated with the cognitive functions and the pattern of decline in women with moderate to moderately severe AD. METHODS: Cross-sectional observational study of 165 women with dementia of the AD type according to NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. The cognitive functions were assessed using the Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG). The sociodemographic and clinical data were collected from the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly (CAMDEX) interview, and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was administrated to the caregiver. RESULTS: The number of years of schooling and the score on the CAMDEX depression scale were the variables associated with the CAMCOG score. The effect of these variables was not homogenous for all the CAMCOG subtests. CONCLUSIONS: The number of years of schooling and the presence of depressive symptomatology influence the results of the neuropsychological exploration, but the effect is moderate and not homogenous for all the CAMCOG subtests. The differences in cognitive profile between moderate and moderately severe are characterised by a greater effect on temporal orientation, calculation and perception.

[Clinical incidence of dementia with Lewy bodies]. / Incidencia clínica de la demencia por cuerpos de Lewy.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) has only relatively recently been acknowledged as an independent neurodegenerative entity. Until now few epidemiological prevalence studies have been carried out that include DLB and there are no studies about its incidence. The aim of this study is to determine the annual clinical incidence of DLB. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed an observational retrospective study of the diagnosis of all the individuals who were attended at the UVAMID (Memory and Dementia Assessment Unit) between 1999 and 2001. The clinical assessment was performed in a standardised manner following the UVAMID protocol, which includes the medical history, obtained by interviewing the patient and a reliable informant, a general medical and neurological check up, neuropsychological exploration and a set of complementary tests. RESULTS: The incidence of DLB in clinical practice was found to be 26/100,000 cases per year. By age groups, a progressive increase in incidence was seen until the 80 84 year old bracket and 63% of the cases of DLB were males. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that cases of DLB made up 2% of the total number of new annual cases. The main limitation of this study lies in the fact that, because patients were referred to clinic from primary health care centres, they do not constitute a representative sample that is clinically unbiased, and this imposes restraints on the extrapolation of results.

Incidencia clínica de la demencia por cuerpos de Lewy / Clinical incidence of dementia with Lewy bodies

Introducción y objetivos. El reconocimiento de la demencia por cuerpos de Lewy (DCL) como una entidad neurodegenerativa independiente es relativamente reciente. Aún se han realizado pocos estudios epidemiológicos de prevalencia que incluyan la DCL y no existen estudios de incidencia. El objetivo del presente trabajo es de terminar la incidencia clínica anual de la DCL. Pacientes y métodos. Estudio retrospectivo observacional del diagnóstico de todos los sujetos que acudieron a la UVAMID entre los años 1999 y 2001. La valoración clínica se realizó de modo estandarizado según el protocolo de la UVAMID, que incluye la historia clínica realizada a través de una entrevista al paciente y a un informador fiable, un examen médico general y neurológico, una exploración neuropsicológica y un conjunto de pruebas complementarias. Resultados. La incidencia en la práctica clínica de la DCL fue de 26/100.000 casos anuales. Por grupos de edad, se observó un aumento progresivo de la incidencia hasta el intervalo de 80-84 años y el 63 por ciento de los casos de DCL fueron hombres. Conclusiones. Los resultados del presente estudio señalan que los casos de DCL representaron el 2 por ciento del total de casos nuevos anuales. La principal limitación del presente trabajo es que los pacientes, al remitirse a consulta desde los centros de atención primaria, forman una muestra no representativa, clínicamente sesgada, que limita la extrapolación de los resultados (AU)

Introduction and aims. Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) has only relatively recently been acknowledged as an independent neurodegenerative entity. Until now few epidemiological prevalence studies have been carried out that include DLB and there are no studies about its incidence. The aim of this study is to determine the annual clinical incidence of DLB. Patients and methods. We performed an observational retrospective study of the diagnosis of all the individuals who were attended at the UVAMID (Memory and Dementia Assessment Unit) between 1999 and 2001. The clinical assessment was performed in a standardised manner following the UVAMID protocol, which includes the medical history, obtained by interviewing the patient and a reliable informant, a general medical and neurological check-up, neuropsychological exploration and a set of complementary tests. Results. The incidence of DLB in clinical practice was found to be 26/100,000 cases per year. By age groups, a progressive increase in incidence was seen until the 80-84 year old bracket and 63% of the cases of DLB were males. Conclusions. The results of this study show that cases of DLB made up 2% of the total number of new annual cases. The main limitation of this study lies in the fact that, because patients were referred to clinic from primary health care centres, they do not constitute a representative sample that is clinically unbiased, and this imposes restraints on the extrapolation of results (AU)