Somatic Symptom Disorder In Semantic Dementia: The Role of Alexisomia

Background Semantic dementia (SD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of semantic knowledge. SD may be associated with somatic symptom disorder due to excessive preoccupation with unidentified somatic sensations. Objective To evaluate the frequency of somatic symptom disorder among...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychosomatics (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2016-11, Vol.57 (6), p.598-604
Main Authors: Gan, Joanna J., M.D, Lin, Andrew, D.O, Samimi, Mersal S., B.S, Mendez, Mario F., M.D.,Ph.D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affective Symptoms - complications
Affective Symptoms - psychology
alexisomia
alexithymia
Cohort Studies
Female
Frontotemporal Dementia - complications
Frontotemporal Dementia - psychology
Humans
Internal Medicine
Male
Middle Aged
Psychiatry
Psychophysiologic Disorders - complications
Psychophysiologic Disorders - psychology
Retrospective Studies
semantic dementia
somatic symptom disorder
somatization
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Summary:Background Semantic dementia (SD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of semantic knowledge. SD may be associated with somatic symptom disorder due to excessive preoccupation with unidentified somatic sensations. Objective To evaluate the frequency of somatic symptom disorder among patients with SD in comparison to comparably-demented patients with Alzheimer′s disease (AD). Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using clinical data from a referral-based behavioral neurology program. Fifty-three patients with SD meeting criteria for Imaging-Supported Semantic Variant Primary Progressive Aphasia (another term for SD) were compared to 125 patients with clinically probable Alzheimer disease (AD). Logistic regression controlled for sex, age, disease duration, education, overall cognitive impairment, and depression. Results The prevalence of somatic symptom disorder was significantly higher among the SD patients (41.5%) compared to the AD patients (11.2%) (odds ratio 6:1; p
ISSN:0033-3182
1545-7206
DOI:10.1016/j.psym.2016.08.002