Researchers are honing in on what creates one of many troubling symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease: psychosis. In a recent Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease article, Canadian psychiatrist Corinne Fischer at St. Michael’s Hospital and her team report that poor blood circulation caused by cerebrovascular disease and abnormal protein deposits called Lewy bodies may be the culprits.
About half of patients with Alzheimer’s disease develop symptoms of psychosis, such as delusions or hallucinations, according to data in the field.These symptoms increase the burden on caregiving staff and lead to a more rapid functional decline and progression of the disease in patients. “We wanted to know if psychosis is because of the disease itself or something else,” Fischer said.
