Psychotic symptoms are common in Alzheimer's
disease (AD) and clinicoanatomical and neuropsychological
evidence indicate an association between these symptoms
and frontal lobe dysfunction. Neurobehaviors associated
with frontal dysfunction were assessed in Alzheimer's
disease (AD) patients with (n = 20) and without
psychotic symptoms (n = 21) matched for mean age,
education, gender, and dementia severity. The Frontal Lobe
Personality Scale (FLOPs) was completed by patient caregivers
to measure behaviors typically associated with frontal
dysfunction. Findings indicated that AD patients with psychotic
symptoms exhibited significantly greater neurobehavioral
dysfunction (FLOPs M = 130.69, SD = 24.70)
than AD patients without psychotic symptoms (FLOPs M =
111.10, SD = 25.83). Subscale analyses indicated that
psychotic AD patients were more disinhibited (M = 28.28,
SD = 7.54) than patients without psychotic symptoms
(M = 20.92, SD = 4.9). Findings are consistent
with and contribute to previous neuropsychological and
clinicoanatomical research suggesting increased frontal
dysfunction in AD with psychotic symptoms and lend additional
empirical support to subtyping AD based on the presence
of psychotic symptoms. Furthermore, findings provide preliminary
evidence indicating which specific type of neurobehavioral
abnormalities are related to the presence of distressing psychotic
symptoms. (JINS, 2000, 6, 815–820.)