Differences Between Alzheimer Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies
Feature | Dementia with Lewy Bodies | Alzheimer Disease |
|---|---|---|
Pathology | Lewy bodies in neurons of the cortex | Neuritic plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and beta-amyloid deposits in the cerebral cortex and subcortical gray matter |
Epidemiology | Affects twice as many men | Affects twice as many women |
Inheritance | Rarely familial | Familial in 5–15% cases |
Day-to-day fluctuation | Prominent | Some |
Short-term memory | Less affected Deficits in alertness and attention more than in memory acquisition | Lost early in the disease |
Parkinsonian symptoms | Prominent, obvious early in the disease Axial rigidity and unstable gait | Very rare, occurring late in the disease Normal gait |
Autonomic dysfunction | Common | Rare |
Hallucinations | Occur in about 80%, usually when disease is early Most commonly visual | Occur in about 20% of patients, usually when disease is moderately advanced |
Adverse effects with antipsychotics | Common Acute worsening of extrapyramidal symptoms, which may be severe or life threatening | Common Possible worsening of symptoms of dementia |