Citation

Devineni B, Onyike CU. Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. 2015; 38(2): 233-248.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 North Wolfe Street, Meyer 279, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Electronic address: conyike1@jhmi.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psc.2015.02.003

PMID

25998113

PMCID

PMC4441762

Abstract

A substantial number of adults suffer young-onset dementia (YOD). The diversity of types and syndromes makes recognition and diagnosis difficult. An algorithmic approach to interpreting clinical data, informed by clinical epidemiology, integrates data pertaining to defining syndromes and their chronology and tempo, family history, and other neuropsychiatric features and neurologic signs, is used to reach a preliminary diagnosis and direct diagnostic tests and their interpretation. Screening for YOD in the psychiatric context is a rational process in which vigilance is combined with careful searches for red flags that signal a neurodegenerative etiology.

Language: en