Racial differences in neuropsychiatric symptoms among dementia outpatients.

This study, based on evaluations of 240 outpatients with Alzheimer's disease or multi-infarct dementia, examines whether race has any independent effects on the prevalence and levels of related neuropsychiatric symptoms. After the authors controlled for 14 potentially confounding variables, race had a significant independent effect on the levels of psychotic and depressive symptoms, the former being greater among blacks and the latter among whites. There were no differences in symptoms between U.S.-born African Americans and African Caribbeans. Although it is likely that racial differences reflect variations in symptoms brought in for evaluation, the absence of intraracial differences suggests the possibility of an underlying biological process.