Depression and loneliness differentially predict visual hallucinations in veterans with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
- 1Center for Translational Cognitive Neuroscience VA Boston Healthcare System Boston Massachusetts USA.
- 2Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Boston Massachusetts USA.
- 3University of North Carolina School of Medicine Chapel Hill North Carolina USA.
Abstract
Loneliness, social isolation, and depression are risk factors for hallucinations in patients with dementia. However, it is unclear whether relationships between these socioemotional factors and hallucinations differ in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Lewy body dementia (LBD) compared to those with neither diagnosis. We used logistic regression models on a large sample of veterans from a memory disorders clinic with varied diagnoses to test whether loneliness, social isolation, and/or depression predicted visual hallucinations (VHs) and interacted with neurocognitive diagnosis. Depression and loneliness were associated with VHs among patients with diagnoses of AD and/or Lewy body dementia, but not in those with neither diagnosis. Social isolation did not predict hallucinations in any diagnostic group. Depression and loneliness can predict the presence of VHs, depending on the patient's underlying diagnosis. Future studies are needed to tease out causal relationships.
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BibTeX
@article{noah2026depression,
title = {{Depression and loneliness differentially predict visual hallucinations in veterans with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.}},
author = {Hannah Noah and Kathy Y Xie and Anthony J Goñez and Katherine W Turk and Brandon Frank and Andrew E Budson},
journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/dad2.70508},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42996468},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Depression and loneliness differentially predict visual hallucinations in veterans with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
AU - Hannah Noah
AU - Kathy Y Xie
AU - Anthony J Goñez
AU - Katherine W Turk
AU - Brandon Frank
AU - Andrew E Budson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
DO - 10.1002/dad2.70508
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42996468
AB - Loneliness, social isolation, and depression are risk factors for hallucinations in patients with dementia. However, it is unclear whether relationships between these socioemotional factors and hallucinations differ in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Lewy body dementia (LBD) compared to those with neither diagnosis. We used logistic regression models on a large sample of veterans from a memory disorders clinic with varied diagnoses to test whether loneliness, social isolation, and/or depression predicted visual hallucinations (VHs) and interacted with neurocognitive diagnosis. Depression and loneliness were associated with VHs among patients with diagnoses of AD and/or Lewy body dementia, but not in those with neither diagnosis. Social isolation did not predict hallucinations in any diagnostic group. Depression and loneliness can predict the presence of VHs, depending on the patient's underlying diagnosis. Future studies are needed to tease out causal relationships.
SN - 2352-8729
ER -