Comprising clinical symptoms and paraclinical findings in Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies: a cross-sectional study.

Comprising clinical symptoms and paraclinical findings in Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies: a cross-sectional study.
Mohamad Amin Talebpour,¹ Mahnaz Komeilipour,² Saeed Shams,³ Mehran Homam,^4,*
1. Student Research Committee, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad branch, Mashhad, Iran.
2. Student Research Committee, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad branch, Mashhad, Iran.
3. Student Research Committee, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad branch, Mashhad, Iran.
4. Department of neurology, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
Introduction: Background: According to studies, many similarities in the clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), in many cases lead to a misdiagnosis. Therefore, recognizing the symptoms of these two diseases and their diagnostic differences can be very important. Purpose: Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare symptoms of AD and DLB for early differentiation of them.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 80 patients from 22 Bahman hospital in Mashhad and a private neurology clinic, according to the met criterion of DSM 5th edition, enrolled in the study in 2016 to 2019, were divided into two groups of 40 patients (with DLB and AD). Demographic indicators, disease history, underlying illnesses, previous medication, clinical signs of patients, were completed in the checklist. Patients diagnosed with other subtypes of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and using sedative or other drugs that affect cognitive impairment were excluded from the study. To determine cortical atrophy, MRI imaging of each patient was performed.
Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, sex, marital status, and occupational status (P-value> 0.05). The onset of symptoms in patients with AD was sooner than that of patients with DLB. Also, the duration of diagnosis in DLB was significantly faster than AD (P-value = 0.001). In patients with DLB, symptoms of visual hallucinations, bradykinesia, and cognitive fluctuations were significantly higher than those of patients with AD (P-value <0.05). Also, the results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of underlying diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia (P-Value> 0.05). The results of the imaging showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the cortical atrophy results (P-value = 0.481).
Conclusion: For differentiation between the two subtypes of dementia, Dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease, we observed on the same timeline that DLB was diagnosed earlier than AD; symptoms of hallucination, cognitive fluctuation, and bradykinesia is strongly aiming to dementia with Lewy bodies. Future studies need to consider more paraclinical tests and exact tests for clear results.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies, Clinical symptoms, Differentiate.