Abstract
Objective:
Inappropriate sexual behaviors (ISBs) represent challenging and stressful manifestations of dementia and are highly burdening for patients, families, and healthcare providers. Nevertheless, ISBs have so far attracted limited clinical and scientific interest compared with other neuropsychiatric symptoms occurring in dementing illnesses. The authors aimed to systematically investigate the prevalence and characteristics of ISBs in a population of patients with dementia attending a memory clinic.
Methods:
In this cross-sectional study, individuals with dementia attending our memory clinic were consecutively enrolled between January 2015 and February 2016. Participating subjects underwent a detailed medical history collection and a comprehensive cognitive, functional, and neuropsychiatric assessment. The presence of ISBs (in the previous 30 days) was investigated by the adoption of an ad hoc questionnaire, administered to informants. A logistic regression model was carried out to identify sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with ISBs.
Results:
In the 195 patients (48.7% women) with dementia recruited for the study, ISBs were detected in 35 patients (17.9% of the total sample). The logistic regression model showed that male sex (OR: 5.14; 95% CI: 1.44-18.41) and anxiety (OR: 4.92; 95% CI: 1.44-16.84) were statistically significantly associated with the presence of ISBs.
Conclusion:
ISBs represent common manifestations of dementing illnesses. Given the significant burden of ISBs on patients and families and the impact on care management, their occurrence should always be investigated in the clinical care of individuals with dementia. For this purpose, specific screening/assessment tools should be properly designed and validated.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 365-371 |
| Journal | The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
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Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia. / Canevelli, Marco; Lucchini, Flaminia; Garofalo, C.; Talarico, Giuseppina; Trebbastoni, Alessandro; D'Antonio, Fabrizia; Imbriano, Letizia; Velotti, Patrizia; de Lena, Carlo; Gasparini, Marina; Bruno, Giuseppe.
In: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Vol. 25, No. 4, 365-371, 2017.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia
AU - Canevelli, Marco
AU - Lucchini, Flaminia
AU - Garofalo, C.
AU - Talarico, Giuseppina
AU - Trebbastoni, Alessandro
AU - D'Antonio, Fabrizia
AU - Imbriano, Letizia
AU - Velotti, Patrizia
AU - de Lena, Carlo
AU - Gasparini, Marina
AU - Bruno, Giuseppe
N1 - Copyright © 2016 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Objective: Inappropriate sexual behaviors (ISBs) represent challenging and stressful manifestations of dementia and are highly burdening for patients, families, and healthcare providers. Nevertheless, ISBs have so far attracted limited clinical and scientific interest compared with other neuropsychiatric symptoms occurring in dementing illnesses. The authors aimed to systematically investigate the prevalence and characteristics of ISBs in a population of patients with dementia attending a memory clinic.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, individuals with dementia attending our memory clinic were consecutively enrolled between January 2015 and February 2016. Participating subjects underwent a detailed medical history collection and a comprehensive cognitive, functional, and neuropsychiatric assessment. The presence of ISBs (in the previous 30 days) was investigated by the adoption of an ad hoc questionnaire, administered to informants. A logistic regression model was carried out to identify sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with ISBs.Results: In the 195 patients (48.7% women) with dementia recruited for the study, ISBs were detected in 35 patients (17.9% of the total sample). The logistic regression model showed that male sex (OR: 5.14; 95% CI: 1.44-18.41) and anxiety (OR: 4.92; 95% CI: 1.44-16.84) were statistically significantly associated with the presence of ISBs.Conclusion: ISBs represent common manifestations of dementing illnesses. Given the significant burden of ISBs on patients and families and the impact on care management, their occurrence should always be investigated in the clinical care of individuals with dementia. For this purpose, specific screening/assessment tools should be properly designed and validated.
AB - Objective: Inappropriate sexual behaviors (ISBs) represent challenging and stressful manifestations of dementia and are highly burdening for patients, families, and healthcare providers. Nevertheless, ISBs have so far attracted limited clinical and scientific interest compared with other neuropsychiatric symptoms occurring in dementing illnesses. The authors aimed to systematically investigate the prevalence and characteristics of ISBs in a population of patients with dementia attending a memory clinic.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, individuals with dementia attending our memory clinic were consecutively enrolled between January 2015 and February 2016. Participating subjects underwent a detailed medical history collection and a comprehensive cognitive, functional, and neuropsychiatric assessment. The presence of ISBs (in the previous 30 days) was investigated by the adoption of an ad hoc questionnaire, administered to informants. A logistic regression model was carried out to identify sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with ISBs.Results: In the 195 patients (48.7% women) with dementia recruited for the study, ISBs were detected in 35 patients (17.9% of the total sample). The logistic regression model showed that male sex (OR: 5.14; 95% CI: 1.44-18.41) and anxiety (OR: 4.92; 95% CI: 1.44-16.84) were statistically significantly associated with the presence of ISBs.Conclusion: ISBs represent common manifestations of dementing illnesses. Given the significant burden of ISBs on patients and families and the impact on care management, their occurrence should always be investigated in the clinical care of individuals with dementia. For this purpose, specific screening/assessment tools should be properly designed and validated.
U2 - 10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020
DO - 10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020
M3 - Article
VL - 25
JO - The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
JF - The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
SN - 1064-7481
IS - 4
M1 - 365-371
ER -