The psychiatric aspects of wilson's disease-a study from a neurology unit.

A series of 31 cases of Wilson's disease (WD) were assessed retrospectively on a range of variables including psychiatric, neurologic and biochemical data recorded at index admission over a period of 7 years. 18 patients (58%) showed psychopathological features. 5 patients (16.1%) were reported to have poor scholastic performance at the onset of illness and 1 patient (3.2%) had abnormal behaviour (mania like) many years prior to the appearance of neurological symptoms. The most common psychiatric features were cognitive impairment (45.2%), affective symptomatology (41.9%) and behavioural abnormalities (29%). Only one patient had a schizophrenia like psychosis. The psychiatric manifestation of Wilson's disease as they present in our setting and their clinical relevance are discussed.