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We compared patterns of neuropsychiatric symptom across four dementia types (AD, VAD, DLB, PDD), and two mixed groups (AD/VAD, AD/DLB) in sample of 2,963 individuals from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set between September 2005 and June 2008. We used confirmatory factor analysis to compare neuropsychiatric symptom severity ratings made by collateral sources on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q) for people with Clinical Dementia Rating scores of 1 or higher. A three factor model of psychiatric symptoms (mood, psychotic, and frontal) was shared across all dementia types. Between-group comparisons revealed unique neuropsychiatric profiles by dementia type. The AD group had moderate levels of mood, psychotic, and frontal symptoms while VAD exhibited the highest levels and PDD had the lowest levels. DLB and the mixed dementias had more complex symptom profiles. Depressed mood was the dominant symptom in people with mild diagnoses. Differing psychiatric symptom profiles provide useful information regarding the non-cognitive symptoms of dementia.

Background:

Recent studies raised questions about the severity of cognitive impairment associated with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). However, there have been few analyses of large, multicenter data registries for clinical–pathologic correlation.

Methods:

We evaluated data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center registry (n = 5,813 cases meeting initial inclusion criteria) and the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Center autopsy series (n = 527) to compare quantitatively the severity of cognitive impairment associated with DLB pathology vs Alzheimer disease (AD) and AD+DLB pathologies.

Results:

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores showed that persons with pure DLB had cognitive impairment of relatively moderate severity (final MMSE score 15.6 ± 8.7) compared to patients with pure AD and AD+DLB (final MMSE score 10.7 ± 8.6 and 10.6 ± 8.6). Persons with pure DLB pathology from both data sets had more years of formal education and were more likely to be male. Differences in final MMSE scores were significant (p < 0.01) between pure DLB and both AD+DLB and pure AD even after correction for education level, gender, and MMSE–death interval. Even in cases with extensive neocortical LBs, the degree of cognitive impairment was most strongly related to the amount of concomitant AD-type neurofibrillary pathology.

Conclusions:

Dementia with Lewy bodies can constitute a debilitating disease with associated psychiatric, motoric, and autonomic dysfunction. However, neocortical Lewy bodies are not a substrate for severe global cognitive impairment as assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination. Instead, neocortical Lewy bodies appear to constitute or reflect an additive disease process, requiring Alzheimer disease or other concomitant brain diseases to induce severe global cognitive deterioration.

GLOSSARY

= Alzheimer disease;

= AD Center;

= Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease;

= dementia with Lewy bodies;

= Lewy bodies;

= Mini-Mental State Examination;

= National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center;

= neurofibrillary;

= National Institute of Aging-Reagan Institute;

= University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Center.

Objectives

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) accounts for 10%–15% of dementia cases at autopsy and has distinct clinical features associated with earlier institutionalisation and a higher level of carer distress than are seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD). At present, there is on-going debate as to whether DLB is associated with a more rapid cognitive decline than AD. An understanding of the rate of decline of cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms in DLB may help patients and carers to plan for the future.

Design

In this cohort study, the authors compared 100 AD and 58 DLB subjects at baseline and at 12-month follow-up on cognitive and neuropsychiatric measures.

Setting

Patients were recruited from 40 European centres.

Participants

Subjects with mild–moderate dementia. Diagnosis of DLB or AD required agreement between consensus panel clinical diagnosis and visual rating of 123I-FP-CIT (dopamine transporter) single photon emission computed tomography neuroimaging.

Outcome measures

The Cambridge Cognitive Examination including Mini-Mental State Examination and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).

Results

The AD and DLB groups did not differ at baseline in terms of age, gender, Clinical Dementia Rating score and use of cholinesterase inhibitors or memantine. NPI and NPI carer distress scores were statistically significantly higher for DLB subjects at baseline and at follow-up, and there were no differences between AD and DLB in cognitive scores at baseline or at follow-up. There was no significant difference in rate of progression of any of the variables analysed.

Conclusions

DLB subjects had more neuropsychiatric features at baseline and at follow-up than AD, but the authors did not find any statistically significant difference in rate of progression between the mild–moderate AD and DLB groups on cognitive or neuropsychiatric measures over a 12-month follow-up period.

Article summary

Article focus

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) has distinct neuropsychiatric features.

At present, we do not know whether the poorer prognosis of DLB is due to a more rapid cognitive decline compared with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Key messages

In this fairly large cohort of patients with DLB and AD, while there was no difference in level of cognitive impairment (Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG) score) at baseline and at 12-month follow-up, DLB patients had significantly higher Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and NPI carer distress scores both at baseline and at 12-month follow-up.

Therefore, the worse prognosis of DLB is likely to be mediated by neuropsychiatric or other symptoms and not only by cognitive decline.

Strengths and limitations of this study

Inclusion of high number of subjects from 40 European clinical centres.

Well-characterised cases with both consensus panel clinical diagnosis (three clinical experts) and dopaminergic transporter single photon emission computed tomography imaging.

No autopsy data were available and therefore it is possible that more rapid cognitive decline may be present in pure DLB.

Only 1 year of follow-up.

There was higher attrition rate (no-follow-up assessment) in the DLB group, and DLB patients that did not return for follow-up were more impaired than AD patients.

There is limited information on the validity of the pathological criteria of the Third Consortium on Dementia with Lewy bodies (CDLB) and none based upon prospectively diagnosed cases. In this study the core clinical features of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and the suggestive clinical feature of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder were assessed using a battery of standardized clinical instruments in 76 patients with the clinical diagnosis of either DLB or Alzheimer disease. At autopsy, 29 patients had high-likelihood, 17 had intermediate-likelihood and 6 had low-likelihood DLB pathology. The frequency of core clinical features and the accuracy of the clinical diagnosis of probable DLB were significantly greater in high-likelihood than in low-likelihood cases. This is consistent with the concept that the DLB clinical syndrome is directly related to Lewy body pathology and inversely related to Alzheimer pathology. Thus, the Third CDLB neuropathological criteria scheme performed reasonably well and is useful for estimating the likelihood of the premortem DLB syndrome based upon postmortem findings. In view of differences in the frequency of clinically probable DLB in cases with Braak NFT stages V (90%) and VI (20%) and diffuse cortical Lewy bodies, a possible modification of the scheme considering cases with NFT stage VI to be low-likelihood DLB is suggested.

Objective:

To determine whether adding REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) to the dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) diagnostic criteria improves classification accuracy of autopsy-confirmed DLB.

Methods:

We followed 234 consecutive patients with dementia until autopsy with a mean of 4 annual visits. Clinical diagnoses included DLB, Alzheimer disease (AD), corticobasal syndrome, and frontotemporal dementia. Pathologic diagnoses used the 2005 DLB consensus criteria and included no/low likelihood DLB (non-DLB; n = 136) and intermediate/high likelihood DLB (DLB; n = 98). Regression modeling and sensitivity/specificity analyses were used to evaluate the diagnostic role of RBD.

Results:

Each of the 3 core features increased the odds of autopsy-confirmed DLB up to 2-fold, and RBD increased the odds by 6-fold. When clinically probable DLB reflected dementia and 2 or more of the 3 core features, sensitivity was 85%, and specificity was 73%. When RBD was added and clinically probable DLB reflected 2 or more of 4 features, sensitivity improved to 88%. When dementia and RBD were also designated as probable DLB, sensitivity increased to 90% while specificity remained at 73%. The VH, parkinsonism, RBD model lowered sensitivity to 83%, but improved specificity to 85%.

Conclusions:

Inclusion of RBD as a core clinical feature improves the diagnostic accuracy of autopsy-confirmed DLB.

We examined risk of one-year decline in four everyday activities in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), relative to patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). Data were from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center, gathered from 32 Alzheimer’s Disease Centers. Participants (n = 1,880) were: 60+ years, demented with a primary clinical diagnosis of probable AD or DLB, and had a global Clinical Dementia Rating of 0.5–2. The activities were measured with the Functional Activities Questionnaire. In modified Poisson regression models adjusted for demographics, baseline activity, years from symptom onset, cognitive impairment and co-morbidities, DLB participants 67–81 years had 1.5 to 2 times increased risk of decline in performing basic kitchen tasks, engaging in games/hobbies, and paying attention/understanding, relative to AD participants of the same age (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between AD and DLB participants outside of this age range. For decline in ability to go shopping alone, there was also no significant difference between AD and DLB participants. In summary, the functional course of DLB, relative to AD, may depend on the age of the patient. These findings may provide anticipatory guidance to families and health-care providers, which may be useful in the planning of care strategies.

Synopsis

The advent of new immunostains have improved our ability to detect limbic and cortical Lewy bodies, and it is now evident that Dementa with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common neurodegenerative dementia, after Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Distinguishing DLB from AD has important implications for treatment, in terms of substances that may worsen symptoms (i.e., anticholinergic and certain neuroleptic medications) and those that may improve them (i.e., cholinesterase inhibitors, carbidopa-levodopa). Neurocognitive patterns, psychiatric features, extrapyramidal signs and sleep disturbance are helpful in differentiating DLB from AD early in the disease course. Differences in the severity of cholinergic depletion as well as type and distribution of neuropathology contribute to these clinical differences, though DLB patients with a high density of co-occuring AD pathology are less clinical distinguishable from AD.

Background

The clinical delineation of Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unclear.

Objective

To compare the neuropsychological profiles of patients with clinically diagnosed Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods

We first compared measures of memory, orientation, language, executive, visual perception and visual construction function between persons with DLB and AD in two Caribbean Hispanic cohorts, including a family dataset (DLB =89; AD: n=118) and an epidemiologic dataset (DLB: n=70; AD: n=157). DLB in the family sample was further divided into i) families with two or more affected family members (DLB), or ii) one affected family member (DLB). To determine whether observed differences in cognitive profiles were driven by heritable factors, we then repeated the analyses in the epidemiologic cohort excluding all familial cases. We applied general linear models adjusting for age, sex, education, disease duration, and APOE-ε4 genotype.

Results

Persons with DLB were in both cohorts more severely impaired in orientation, visual construction and non verbal reasoning after controlling for potential confounders. Persons with 2 or more DLB cases per family had the most severe impairment in episodic and semantic memory, followed by those with one DLB case per family, then by those with AD. When familial AD and DLB cases were excluded from the analysis in the epidemiologic cohort, the differences between the AD and DLB groups persisted but were attenuated.

Conclusions

Compared to persons with AD, persons with DLB are more severely impaired in various cognitive domains, particularly orientation, visual perception and visual construction. The difference appears strong in familial rather than sporadic DLB. Whether this divergence in cognitive functions is caused by gene-gene or gene-environmental interactions remains unclear.

Background

Familial aggregation of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) remains unclear.

Objectives

To determine the degree of family aggregation of DLB by comparing DLB risk between siblings of probands with clinically diagnosed DLB and siblings of probands with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer disease in a cohort of Caribbean Hispanic families and to explore the degree of aggregation of specific clinical manifestations (ie, cognitive fluctuations, visual hallucinations, and parkinsonism) in DLB.

Design

Familial cohort study.

Setting

Academic research.

Patients

We separately compared risks of possible DLB, probable DLB, and clinical core features of DLB (cognitive fluctuations, visual hallucinations, and parkinsonism) between siblings of probands with clinically diagnosed DLB (n=344) and siblings of probands with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer disease (n=280) in 214 Caribbean Hispanic families with extended neurologic and neuropsychological assessment.

Main Outcome Measures

We applied general estimating equations to adjust for clustering within families. In these models, age and proband disease status were independent variables, and disease status of siblings was the measure of disease risk and the dependent variable.

Results

Compared with siblings of probands having clinically diagnosed Alzheimer disease, siblings of probands having clinically diagnosed DLB had higher risks of probable DLB (odds ratio [OR], 2.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–5.04) and visual hallucinations (2.32; 1.16–4.64). They also had increased risks of possible DLB (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 0.97–2.34) and cognitive fluctuations (1.55; 0.95–2.53).

Conclusions

Dementia with Lewy bodies and core features of DLB aggregate in families. Compared with siblings of probands having clinically diagnosed AD, siblings of probands having clinically diagnosed DLB are at increased risks of DLB and visual hallucinations. These findings are an important step in elucidating the genetic risk factors underlying DLB and in delineating DLB from other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer disease.

Aim

Little is known about the concordance rate in twins for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The rate of agreement between clinical and pathological diagnoses for DLB is typically low, necessitating confirmation of the diagnosis neuropathologically.

Methods

Participants were 17 twin pairs enrolled in the Duke Twins Study of Memory in Aging in which at least one member of the pair had an autopsy confirmed diagnosis of DLB, Alzheimer's disease (AD) with Lewy bodies, or fronto-temporal dementia with Lewy bodies. We assessed characteristics of those with dementia and examined rates of concordance for pathological confirmed dementia.

Results

Four monozygotic twin pairs had a proband with neuropathologically confirmed pure DLB; all remained discordant for dementia for periods up to 16 years or more. Five of 13 pairs in which the proband had AD plus DLB were concordant for dementia, but only one pair was concordant for AD plus DLB, while the cotwins in the other four pairs had other types of dementia.

Conclusions

The present study indicates that even among twins, a diagnosis of DLB in one twin does not predict the same diagnosis in the other twin. Neuropathological discordance in type of dementia among monozygotic pairs hints at environmental or epigenetic factors playing a role in Lewy body pathology.

OBJECTIVE—Scintigraphy with [123I]metaiodobenzyl guanidine ([123I]MIBG) enables the quantification of postganglionic sympathetic cardiac innervation. Recently, myocardial [123I]MIBG scintigraphy has been found to be useful in distinguishing Parkinson's disease, a Lewy body disease, from other akinetic rigid syndromes. Some patients initially diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) are discovered to have an alternative disease such as dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), despite the application of stringent diagnostic criteria. In the present study, examinations were performed to clarify the usefulness of myocardial [123I]MIBG scintigraphy in improving the differential diagnosis between patients with DLB and DAT.
METHODS—Fourteen patients with DLB and 14 patients with DAT underwent scintigraphy with [123I]MIBG, combined with orthostatic tests and cardiac examinations.
RESULTS—In all patients with DLB, the heart to mediastinum (H/M) ratio of MIBG uptake was pathologically impaired in both early and delayed images, independently of the duration of disease and autonomic failure. All patients with DAT had successful MIBG uptake in the heart regardless of duration of disease and autonomic failure. Orthostatic hypotension was seen in four patients with DAT and 13 patients with DLB.
CONCLUSIONS—[123I]MIBG myocardial scintigraphy might detect early disturbances of the sympathetic nervous system in DLB and might provide useful diagnostic information to discriminate DLB from DAT. The distinction between DLB and DAT may be improved by greater emphasis on cardiac sympathetic disturbances.



Sleep disorders are observed in Parkinson’s disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer’s disease, however the underlying mechanisms are unclear.

Reduced hypocretin (orexin) levels are reported in Parkinson’s disease and sleep disorders including narcolepsy, however levels in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer’s disease and their relationship to sleep disturbances in these disorders remain undetermined.

We examined hypocretin levels in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer’s disease cases and correlated these with sleep habits and clinical characteristics. Whilst limited hypocretin alterations were observed in Alzheimer’s disease, we demonstrate reduced neocortical hypocretin-immunoreactivity in Dementia with Lewy Bodies patients correlating with hypersomnolence and alpha-synuclein levels. These results suggest the involvement of hypocretin in sleep disorders in Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

Background: The relation between dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) is unknown.

Objectives: To compare the cognitive profiles of patients with DLB and PDD, and compare those with the performance of patients with a subcortical dementia (progressive supranuclear palsy) and a cortical dementia (Alzheimer's disease).

Design: Survey of cognitive features.

Setting: General community in Rogaland county, Norway, and a university dementia and movement disorder research centre in the USA.

Patients: 60 patients with DLB, 35 with PDD, 49 with progressive supranuclear palsy, and 29 with Alzheimer's disease, diagnosed by either standardised clinical procedures and criteria (all PDD and Alzheimer cases and 76% of cases of progressive supranuclear palsy), or necropsy (all DLB cases and 24% of cases of progressive supranuclear palsy). Level of dementia severity was matched using the total score on the dementia rating scale adjusted for age and education.

Main outcome measures: Dementia rating scale subscores corrected for age.

Results: No significant differences between the dementia rating scale subscores in the PDD and DLB groups were found in the severely demented patients; in patients with mild to moderate dementia the conceptualisation subscore was higher in PDD than in DLB (p = 0.03). Compared with Alzheimer's disease, PDD and DLB had higher memory subscores (p < 0.001) but lower initiation and perseveration (p = 0.008 and p=0.021) and construction subscores (p = 0.009 and p = 0.001). DLB patients had a lower conceptualisation subscore (p = 0.004). Compared with progressive supranuclear palsy, PDD and DLB patients had lower memory subscores (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The cognitive profiles of patients with DLB and PDD were similar, but they differed from those of patients with Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. The cognitive pattern in DLB and PDD probably reflects the superimposition of subcortical deficits upon deficits typically associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Background and Purpose

It is particularly difficult to differentiate dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from the related dementias of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). Few studies have been designed to comparatively analyze detailed neuropsychological assessments of DLB patients and patients with AD and PDD.

Methods

Three groups of patients participated in this study: 10 with DLB, 76 with AD, and 17 with PDD, who had been diagnosed as probable DLB, AD, and PDD, respectively, according to the clinical criteria of the consortium on DLB, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorder Association, and the clinical diagnostic criteria for PDD. All patients were evaluated by careful neurological examination with detailed neuropsychological testing.

Results

Significant differences among the three groups were found for attention, memory, and executive function, which included tasks of backward digit span, three-word recall, verbal delayed recall, and the Stroop test. Post hoc analysis revealed that the deficiencies of attention on the digit span task were greater in the DLB group than in the AD and PDD groups. The scores for episodic verbal memory tasks were significantly lower in the DLB and AD groups than in the PDD group. The performance in frontal executive function, as indicated by the Stroop test, was significantly worse in the DLB and PDD groups than in the AD group.

Conclusions

The results of the present study show that the pattern of cognitive dysfunction, in terms of attention, episodic memory, and executive functions, differ between patients with DLB and patients with AD and PDD.

Background

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a common form of dementia. The presence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology modifies the clinical features of DLB, making it harder to distinguish DLB from AD clinically during life. Clinical diagnostic criteria for DLB applied at presentation can fail to identify up to 50% of cases. Our aim was to determine, in a series of patients with dementia in whom autopsy confirmation of diagnosis was available, whether functional imaging of the nigrostriatal pathway improves the accuracy of diagnosis compared with diagnosis by means of clinical criteria alone.

Methods

A single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scan was carried out with a dopaminergic presynaptic ligand [123I]‐2beta‐carbometoxy‐3beta‐(4‐iodophenyl)‐N‐(3‐fluoropropyl) nortropane (FP‐CIT; ioflupane) on a group of patients with a clinical diagnosis of DLB or other dementia. An abnormal scan was defined as one in which right and left posterior putamen binding, measured semiquantitatively, was more than 2 SDs below the mean of the controls.

Results

Over a 10 year period it was possible to collect 20 patients who had been followed from the time of first assessment and time of scan through to death and subsequent detailed neuropathological autopsy. Eight patients fulfilled neuropathological diagnostic criteria for DLB. Nine patients had AD, mostly with coexisting cerebrovascular disease. Three patients had other diagnoses. The sensitivity of an initial clinical diagnosis of DLB was 75% and specificity was 42%. The sensitivity of the FP‐CIT scan for the diagnosis of DLB was 88% and specificity was 100%.

Conclusion

FP‐CIT SPECT scans substantially enhanced the accuracy of diagnosis of DLB by comparison with clinical criteria alone.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterized by excessive muscle activity and undesirable motor events during REM sleep. RBD occurs in approximately 0.5% of the general population, with a higher prevalence in older men. RBD is a frequent feature of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), but is only rarely reported in Alzheimer’s disease. RBD is also a risk factor for α-synuclein-related diseases, such as DLB, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and multiple system atrophy. Therefore, RBD has major implications for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and for understanding specific neurodegeneration patterns. Several markers of neurodegeneration have been identified in RBD, including cognitive impairments such as deficits in attention, executive functions, learning capacities, and visuospatial abilities. Approximately 50% of RBD patients present mild cognitive impairment. Moreover, RBD is also associated with cognitive decline in PD.

Objective:

Most pathologic studies indicate that significant vascular changes are found in the majority of elderly persons, either alone or in association with neurodegenerative processes such as Alzheimer disease (AD) or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Cumulative burden of cerebrovascular lesions can explain cognitive decline described as vascular cognitive impairment, but because there is a lack of consensus in the best way to quantify vascular pathology, the relationship between cognitive decline and cerebrovascular disease remains uncertain. We developed a rating scheme for cerebrovascular lesions using postmortem brains from patients with dementia from 2 European tertiary care memory clinics.

Methods:

A total of 135 brains with a neuropathologic diagnosis of vascular dementia (VaD) (n = 26), AD + VaD (n = 39), DLB + VaD (n = 21), AD + DLB + VaD (n = 9), AD (n = 19), and DLB (n = 21) were investigated in this study. Cerebrovascular lesions were rated on large sections from the hippocampus, the temporal lobe, the frontal lobe, and basal ganglia.

Results:

In patients with dementia, vessel wall modifications such as arteriolosclerosis or amyloid angiopathy are the most common and presumably the earliest changes. Modifications in perivascular spaces and myelin loss are the next most common. Lacunar or regional infarcts may occur as a consequence of an independent process or in the final phase of small vessel diseases.

Conclusion:

A staging system based on this conceptual model of cerebrovascular pathology could enable the neuropathologic quantification of the cerebrovascular burden in dementia. Further studies are needed to determine whether this system can be used in large-scale studies to understand clinical–cerebrovascular pathologic correlations.

OBJECTIVES—In many cases the clinical differentiation of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from those with Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been difficult. Because many neuropsychological studies have reported greater visuospatial/constructional impairment in DLB than in AD, it was determined whether accuracy in copying the interlocking pentagons item on the mini mental state examination (MMSE) may be helpful in distinguishing patients with DLB from those with AD relatively early in the course of the dementia.
METHODS—All cases of neuropathologically proved DLB and AD in the Center for Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders brain bank were retrospectively reviewed, and the first available MMSE for each was retrieved. Only patients with MMSE scores⩾13 were included, indicating mild to moderate dementia. The patients' copies of the interlocking pentagons were analyzed and graded as acceptable or unacceptable according to the original instructions for grading the MMSE.
RESULTS—Seventeen patients with DLB and 27 patients with AD were identified for whom MMSE with copies of the interlocking pentagons were available. Two patients with DLB (MMSEs 22 and 27) drew the pentagons acceptably, by contrast with 16 of the patients with AD (MMSEs 13-28). An unacceptable copy was associated with DLB with a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 59% (p=0.002).
CONCLUSIONS—For patients with MMSE scores⩾13, an inability to accurately copy the pentagons suggests that the diagnosis is more likely DLB than AD. The results confirm the work of others on visuospatial/constructional impairment in DLB and indicate that this feature may be helpful in its diagnosis.



OBJECTIVES—To evaluate the role of the EEG in the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).
METHODS—Standard EEG recordings from 14 patients with DLB confirmed at postmortem were examined and were compared with the records from 11 patients with Alzheimer's disease confirmed at postmortem
RESULTS—Seventeen of the total of 19 records from the patients with DLB were abnormal. Thirteen showed loss of alpha activity as the dominant rhythm and half had slow wave transient activity in the temporal lobe areas. This slow wave transient activity correlated with a clinical history of loss of consciousness. The patients with Alzheimer's disease were less likely to show transient slow waves and tended to have less marked slowing of dominant rhythm.
CONCLUSIONS—The greater slowing of the EEG in DLB than in Alzheimer's disease may be related to a greater loss of choline acetyltransferase found in DLB. Temporal slow wave transients may be a useful diagnostic feature in DLB and may help to explain the transient disturbance of consciousness which is characteristic of the disorder.



We studied the diagnostic value of CSF Aβ42/tau versus low Aβ1–42% and high Aβ1–40ox% levels for differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), respectively. CSF of 45 patients with AD, 15 with DLB, 21 with Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), and 40 nondemented disease controls (NDC) was analyzed by Aβ-SDS-PAGE/immunoblot and ELISAs (Aβ42 and tau). Aβ42/tau lacked specificity in discriminating AD from DLB and PDD. Best discriminating biomarkers were Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% for AD and DLB, respectively. AD and DLB could be differentiated by both Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% with an accuracy of 80% at minimum. Thus, we consider Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% to be useful biomarkers for AD and DLB, respectively. We propose further studies on the integration of Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% into conventional assay formats. Moreover, future studies should investigate the combination of Aβ1–40ox% and CSF alpha-synuclein for the diagnosis of DLB.

Lewy body and Lewy neurite formation are the hallmark neuropathological findings in Parkinson’s disease (PD), Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and other alpha-synucleinopathies. They also have been described in the brains of normal older individuals and referred to as incidental Lewy body disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites (Lewy body pathology; LBP) in 139 autopsies from our normal volunteer control group of the University of Kentucky Alzheimer’s Disease Center. All subjects were followed longitudinally and were cognitively normal without any type of movement disorder, neuropsychiatric features, or other CNS findings. Thirty-three out of 139 normal subjects contained LBP in various brain regions. The most common regions involved were the medulla (26%), amygdala (24%), pons (20%), and midbrain (20%). No mean statistical differences were found between those with and without LBP on any demographic or cognitive variable, Braak stage, or neurofibrillary tangle and neuritic plaque quantitation. The high prevalence of LBP in our elderly, well educated group is not clear although it does not appear to be related to aging or the presence of AD pathology. Overall, our findings support the concept that incidental Lewy body disease most likely represents preclinical or presymptomatic PD, PDD or DLB.

Purpose:

To examine the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract EGb 761® on neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia.

Patients and methods:

Randomized, controlled, double-blind, multicenter clinical trial involving 410 outpatients with mild to moderate dementia (Alzheimer’s disease with or without cerebrovascular disease, vascular dementia), scoring at least 5 on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), with at least one item score of 3 or more. Total scores on the SKT cognitive test battery (Erzigkeit’s short syndrome test) were between 9 and 23. After random allocation, the patients took 240 mg of EGb 761® or placebo once daily for a period of 24 weeks. Changes from baseline to week 24 in the NPI composite and in the SKT total score were the primary outcomes. The NPI distress score was chosen as a secondary outcome measure to evaluate caregivers’ distress.

Results:

The NPI composite score improved by −3.2 (95% confidence interval −4.0 to −2.3) in patients taking EGb 761® (n = 202), but did not change (−0.9; 0.9) in those receiving placebo (n = 202), which resulted in a statistically significant difference in favor of EGb 761® (P < 0.001). Treatment with EGb 761® was significantly superior to placebo for the symptoms apathy/indifference, sleep/night-time behavior, irritability/lability, depression/dysphoria, and aberrant motor behavior. Caregivers’ distress evaluation revealed similar baseline pattern and improvements.

Conclusion:

Treatment with EGb 761®, at a once-daily dose of 240 mg, was safe, effectively alleviated behavioral and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with mild to moderate dementia, and improved the wellbeing of their caregivers.

Dementia is a common feature in Parkinson's disease (PD) and is considered to be the result of limbic and cortical Lewy bodies and/or Alzheimer changes. Astrogliosis may also affect the development of dementia, since it correlates well with declining cognition in Alzheimer patients. Thus, we determined whether cortical astrogliosis occurs in PD, whether it is related to dementia, and whether this is reflected by the presence of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We have examined these proteins by immunohistochemistry in the frontal cortex and by Western blot in CSF of cases with PD, PD with dementia (PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and nondemented controls. We were neither able to detect an increase in cortical astrogliosis in PD, PDD, or DLB nor could we observe a correlation between the extent of astrogliosis and the degree of dementia. The levels of GFAP and vimentin in CSF did not correlate to the extent of astrogliosis or dementia. We did confirm the previously identified positive correlation between the presence of cortical Lewy bodies and dementia in PD. In conclusion, we have shown that cortical astrogliosis is not associated with the cognitive decline in Lewy body-related dementia.

Background:

Experimental studies indicate that dopaminergic neurons in the ventral periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) are involved in maintenance of wakefulness. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a common manifestation of multiple system atrophy (MSA) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) but involvement of these neurons has not yet been explored.

Methods:

We sought to determine whether there is loss of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral PAG in MSA and DLB. We studied the midbrain obtained at autopsy from 12 patients (9 male, 3 female, age 61 ± 3) with neuropathologically confirmed MSA, 12 patients (11 male, 1 female, age 79 ± 4) with diagnosis of DLB and limbic or neocortical Lewy body disease, and 12 controls (7 male, 5 female, ages 67 ± 4). Fifty-micron sections were immunostained for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) or α-synuclein and costained with thionin. Cell counts were performed every 400 μm throughout the ventral PAG using stereologic techniques.

Results:

Compared to the total estimated cell numbers in controls (21,488 ± 8,324 cells), there was marked loss of TH neurons in the ventral PAG in both MSA (11,727 ± 5,984; p < 0.01) and DLB (5,163 ± 1,926; p < 0.001) cases. Cell loss was more marked in DLB than in MSA. There were characteristic α-synuclein inclusions in the ventral PAG in both MSA and DLB.

Conclusions:

There is loss of putative wake-active ventral periaqueductal gray matter dopaminergic neurons in both multiple system atrophy and dementia with Lewy bodies, which may contribute to excessive daytime sleepiness in these conditions.

GLOSSARY

= Alzheimer disease;

= Braak and Braak;

= Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease;

= continuous positive airway pressure;

= dementia with Lewy bodies;

= electrocardiogram;

= excessive daytime sleepiness;

= electrooculography;

= Epworth Sleepiness Scale;

= glial cytoplasmic inclusion;

= Lewy body disease;

= multiple system atrophy;

= MSA with predominant parkinsonism;

= MSA with predominant cerebellar involvement;

= obstructive sleep apnea;

= periaqueductal gray matter;

= polysomnogram;

= REM sleep behavior disorder;

= tyrosine hydroxylase.

Dementia can be caused by different diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), or both (AD + DLB). University of Kentucky AD Center pathologically-diagnosed AD and AD + DLB cases were evaluated who had three or more longitudinal antemortem mental status examinations (n = 156). Patients with important concomitant pathology (n = 5) or patients that were profoundly demented at recruitment (intake MMSE < 20; n = 86) were excluded to strengthen our ability to test the association of specific clinical and pathological indices. Patients with pathologically-diagnosed AD + DLB (n = 25) lost cognitive capacity faster than patients with AD alone (n = 40). In both diseases, treatment with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors was associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline.