Long-term effects of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine on cognitive decline, cardiovascular events, and mortality in dementia with Lewy bodies: An up to 10-year follow-up study.

Introduction: We aimed to assess the impact of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) and memantine on cognition, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and mortality in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Methods: A total of 1,095 incident DLB patients from the Swedish Registry on cognitive/dementia disorders were included. Using an inverse probability of treatment weighting, the effect of initiating ChEI or memantine within 90 days of DLB diagnosis and nonuse was evaluated on cognitive trajectories and risks of MACE and death.

The Paintings Reveal the Story: Case Study of a Well-Known Swedish Artist Suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Creativity is a multifaceted, complex, activity, and as such is an overarching function of the brain rather than being confined to a specific structure or region.Alzheimer's disease effects several cognitive domains involved in the creative process of producing art.

Objective: We analyze the art of a well-known Swedish visual artist who suffered from Alzheimer's disease to determine if, and in what way, his art and creative process might have been influenced by the disease.

Diagnostic Accuracy of the Swedish Version of the Multicultural Cognitive Examination for Cognitive Assessment in Swedish Memory Clinics.

Background: Cognitive assessment for foreign-born individuals is suboptimal. The Multicultural Cognitive Examination (MCE) was developed for use in culturally, linguistically and educationally diverse populations. The MCE includes the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) and performs assessment of memory, verbal fluency, and visuospatial function.

Development of the Swedish anticholinergic burden scale (Swe-ABS).

Background: Drugs with anticholinergic properties are associated with cognitive adverse effects, especially in patients vulnerable to central muscarinic antagonism. A variety of drugs show weak, moderate or strong anticholinergic effects. Therefore, the cumulative anticholinergic burden should be considered in patients with cognitive impairment.

Exploring the prevalence of undetected bradyarrhythmia in dementia with Lewy bodies.

Purpose: To explore the prevalence of undetected bradyarrhythmia in a cohort of people with dementia with Lewy bodies.

Methods: Thirty participants diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies were enrolled from three memory clinics in southern Sweden between May 2021 and November 2022. None had a history of high-grade atrioventricular block or sick sinus syndrome.

Pacemaker Implants and Their Influence on the Daily Life of Patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies: A Qualitative Case Study.

Introduction: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is an incurable form of dementia associated with detriments to the daily life of patients and carers from their family. Symptoms of orthostatic hypotension, syncope, and falls are supportive of DLB diagnosis. These symptoms may also be present among people with sick sinus syndrome (SSS), and subsequent pacemaker treatment to manage bradyarrhythmia is associated with improved cognitive function.

A Retrospective Study on Clinical Assessment of Cognitive Impairment in a Swedish Cohort: Is There Inequality Between Natives and Foreign-Born?

Background: People with a migration background are underrepresented in dementia research and disfavored in assessment and treatment, and many foreign-born individuals with dementia remain undiagnosed.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether there is inequality in the clinical assessment of dementia between native and foreign-born individuals in Sweden.

Methods: Information was gathered retrospectively from a cohort of 91 native and 36 foreign-born patients attending four memory clinics in Skåne, Sweden.

Diagnostic Accuracy of the Swedish Version of the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS-S) for Multicultural Cognitive Screening in Swedish Memory Clinics.

Background: The number of people with a migration background and dementia is increasing in Europe. All patients with suspected dementia have the right to an appropriate cognitive assessment and correct diagnosis for optimal treatment and support. Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) cognitive screening instrument is less affected by language, culture, and educational background, and adapted for use in multicultural populations.

Medications causing potential cognitive impairment are common in nursing home dementia units - A cross-sectional study.

Background: With advancing age the brain becomes more sensitive to centrally acting drugs thus increasing the risk of cognitive side-effects. The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare developed indicators to measure and follow quality in older people's drug therapy, one being "Potentially Inappropriate Medications risking Cognitive impairment (PIMcogn)". Associations between anticholinergics and cognitive impairment are described, especially in persons with Alzheimer's disease or Lewy Body Dementia/Parkinson's disease dementia, due to degenerated cholinergic pathways.

"I Know Hyena. Do you Know Hyena?" Challenges in Interpreter-Mediated Dementia Assessment, Focusing on the Role of the Interpreter.

Dementia assessment requires functional communication and interaction between healthcare professionals and the patient being assessed. These can be affected by the requirement for an interpreter to communicate with the patient. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the interactions between patient, healthcare professionals and interpreter, focusing on the role of the interpreter and the challenges that may arise in interpreter-mediated dementia assessment.

Choral Singing Enriches Everyday Life for People With Mild to Moderate Dementia and Their Family Caregivers.

Dementia causes substantial suffering for affected persons and their family caregivers. Because no cure is available, it is important to investigate how alternative therapies can improve life for these individuals. For the current study, persons with dementia (PwD) were recruited from a specialized Memory Clinic in Sweden to engage in a choral singing intervention for 1 hour per week for four semesters.

Inter-modality assessment of medial temporal lobe atrophy in a non-demented population: application of a visual rating scale template across radiologists with varying clinical experience.

Objectives: To assess inter-modality agreement and accuracy for medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) ratings across radiologists with varying clinical experience in a non-demented population.

Methods: Four raters (two junior radiologists and two senior neuroradiologists) rated MTA on CT and MRI scans using Scheltens' MTA scale. Ratings were compared to a consensus rating by two experienced neuroradiologists for estimation of true positive and negative rates (TPR and TNR) and over- and underestimation of MTA.

Plasma Phospho-Tau Identifies Alzheimer's Co-Pathology in Patients with Lewy Body Disease.

Background: Alzheimer's disease co-pathology is common in dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease with dementia (Lewy body disease) and can reliably be detected with positron emission tomography (PET) or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. Recently developed blood biomarkers are more accessible and less expensive alternatives.

Objective: To investigate if plasma phospho-tau217 and phospho-tau181 can detect Alzheimer's pathology in Lewy body disease with dementia.

β-Amyloid and tau biomarkers and clinical phenotype in dementia with Lewy bodies.

Objective: In a multicenter cohort of probable dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), we tested the hypothesis that β-amyloid and tau biomarker positivity increases with age, which is modified by genotype and sex, and that there are isolated and synergistic associations with the clinical phenotype.

Methods: We included 417 patients with DLB (age 45-93 years, 31% women). Positivity on β-amyloid (A+) and tau (T+) biomarkers was determined by CSF β-amyloid and phosphorylated tau in the European cohort and by Pittsburgh compound B and AV-1451 PET in the Mayo Clinic cohort.

Reporting frequency of radiology findings increases after introducing visual rating scales in the primary care diagnostic work up of subjective and mild cognitive impairment.

Objectives: Study the effect of introducing a template for radiological reporting of non-enhanced computed tomography (NECT) in the primary care diagnostic work up of cognitive impairment using visual rating scales (VRS).

Methods: Radiology reports were assessed regarding compliance with a contextual report template and the reporting of the parameters medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA), white matter changes (WMC), global cortical atrophy (GCA), and width of lateral ventricles (WLV) using established VRS in two age-matched groups examined with NECT before (n = 111) and after (n = 125) the introduction of contextual reporting at our department. True positive rate (TPR) and true negative rate (TNR) before and after were compared.

Analysis of neurodegenerative disease-causing genes in dementia with Lewy bodies.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a clinically heterogeneous disorder with a substantial burden on healthcare. Despite this, the genetic basis of the disorder is not well defined and its boundaries with other neurodegenerative diseases are unclear. Here, we performed whole exome sequencing of a cohort of 1118 Caucasian DLB patients, and focused on genes causative of monogenic neurodegenerative diseases.

Author Correction: GBA and APOE ε4 associate with sporadic dementia with Lewy bodies in European genome wide association study.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Survival among the older adults with clinical signs of Lewy body dementia in 40 Swedish nursing homes: a 6-year follow-up study.

Objectives: To investigate survival among elderly residents of Swedish nursing homes (NHs), with specific focus on those with two or more signs of Lewy body dementia (LBD).

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: NHs in Malmö, the third largest city in Sweden.

GBA and APOE ε4 associate with sporadic dementia with Lewy bodies in European genome wide association study.

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with poor prognosis and mainly unknown pathophysiology. Heritability estimates exceed 30% but few genetic risk variants have been identified. Here we investigated common genetic variants associated with DLB in a large European multisite sample.

Extreme sleep pattern in Lewy body dementia: a hypothalamic matter?

Excessive sleep during the night and for >2 hours during the day is part of the fluctuating wakefulness criterion of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The phenomenon 'sleep days' is not uncommon in nursing homes. Here, we describe a woman who, for months, slept for 3 days and nights in a row and thereafter was awake for 3 days and nights.

Living with dementia with Lewy bodies: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Objective: To explore the subjective experience of living with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Design: A qualitative study of in-depth interviews using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Setting: A memory clinic in Malmö, southern Sweden.

Structural imaging findings on non-enhanced computed tomography are severely underreported in the primary care diagnostic work-up of subjective cognitive decline.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate how structural imaging findings of medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA), posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), global cortical atrophy (GCA), white matter changes (WMC), and Evans' index/width of lateral ventricles (EI/WLV) are reported in the primary care diagnostic work-up of patients with subjective cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment.

Methods: We included 197 patients referred to a non-enhanced computed tomography (NECT) as part of the diagnostic work-up. We compared the frequencies of reported findings in radiology reports written by neuroradiologists and general radiologists with actual pathological findings in a second view done by a single neuroradiologist using the MTA, PCA, GCA, WMC, and EI/WLV visual rating scales.

A comprehensive screening of copy number variability in dementia with Lewy bodies.

The role of genetic variability in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is now indisputable; however, data regarding copy number variation (CNV) in this disease has been lacking. Here, we used whole-genome genotyping of 1454 DLB cases and 1525 controls to assess copy number variability. We used 2 algorithms to confidently detect CNVs, performed a case-control association analysis, screened for candidate CNVs previously associated with DLB-related diseases, and performed a candidate gene approach to fully explore the data.