Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia

Marco Canevelli; Flaminia Lucchini; C. Garofalo; Giuseppina Talarico; Alessandro Trebbastoni; Fabrizia D'Antonio; Letizia Imbriano; Patrizia Velotti; Carlo de Lena; Marina Gasparini; Giuseppe Bruno

doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020

Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia

Marco Canevelli, Flaminia Lucchini, C. Garofalo, Giuseppina Talarico, Alessandro Trebbastoni, Fabrizia D'Antonio, Letizia Imbriano, Patrizia Velotti, Carlo de Lena, Marina Gasparini, Giuseppe Bruno

Developmental Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

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	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020
Publication status	Published - 2017

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Canevelli, M., Lucchini, F., Garofalo, C., Talarico, G., Trebbastoni, A., D'Antonio, F., Imbriano, L., Velotti, P., de Lena, C., Gasparini, M., & Bruno, G. (2017). Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 25(4), [365-371]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020

Canevelli, Marco ; Lucchini, Flaminia ; Garofalo, C. ; Talarico, Giuseppina ; Trebbastoni, Alessandro ; D'Antonio, Fabrizia ; Imbriano, Letizia ; Velotti, Patrizia ; de Lena, Carlo ; Gasparini, Marina ; Bruno, Giuseppe. / Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia. In: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. 2017 ; Vol. 25, No. 4.

@article{2a178d2ec9d9407bb00b05017239304f,

title = "Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia",

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.",

author = "Marco Canevelli and Flaminia Lucchini and C. Garofalo and Giuseppina Talarico and Alessandro Trebbastoni and Fabrizia D'Antonio and Letizia Imbriano and Patrizia Velotti and {de Lena}, Carlo and Marina Gasparini and Giuseppe Bruno",

year = "2017",

doi = "10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020",

language = "English",

volume = "25",

journal = "The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry",

issn = "1064-7481",

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Canevelli, M, Lucchini, F, Garofalo, C, Talarico, G, Trebbastoni, A, D'Antonio, F, Imbriano, L, Velotti, P, de Lena, C, Gasparini, M & Bruno, G 2017, 'Inappropriate sexual behaviors among community-dwelling patients with dementia', The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 25, no. 4, 365-371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020

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

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.

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DO - 10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.020

M3 - Article

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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

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