Presbyophrenia: Clinical Aspects

Abstract

Summary: Fifteen cases meeting the diagnostic criteria for presbyophrenia are reported and compared with a control sample of patients suffering from dementia. The presbyophrenic patients exhibited more elevated mood, more hyperactivity, more disorientation, and had lower information scores than the controls. Traditional explanations of ‘presbyophrenic behaviour’ such as delirium, pathoplastic effect of personality, or superimposed cerebrovascular disease are not adequate. Instead, presbyophrenia may constitute a sub-type of dementia characterised by severe atrophy of the locus coeruleus, marked impairment of noradrenergic transmission, and uninhibited behaviour.