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