Psychotic symptoms, including delusions and hallucinations, are obviously the most salient and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with AD, also generally the least frequent symptoms during the early stages of AD []. Like depression, the emergence of psychotic symptoms predicts greater or more rapid cognitive decline [, ]. Hallucinations are among those noncognitive AD symptoms, also including cognitive impairment level, physical aggression, and depressive symptoms, strongly predictive of institutionalization []. A longitudinal study found that psychosis in AD (observed in 7.8% of patients) was associated with greater initial cognitive dysfunction, more accelerated cognitive decline, and greater mortality []. Like aggression, to which it is strongly correlated, psychosis is associated with difference in the 5-HT system, such as a higher frequency of the C allele and CC genotype of the T102C variant of 5HT (2A) receptors in patients with hallucinations and delusions []. There may also be an association between the SERT long form and psychosis in AD []. Moreover, psychosis is associated with CSF tau, suggesting more severe tauopathy in psychotic patients [] and with greater intracellular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau []. The APOE 4 allele also increases psychosis risk []. In general, AD-associated psychosis follows the severity of AD-associated neurodegeneration and cognitive dysfunction []. 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed reduced metabolic activity in the right lateral frontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and bilateral temporal cortex in patients with delusions, overlapping with areas associated with loss of memory and insight []. Atrophy of the supramarginal cortex of the parietal lobe was predictive of increasing hallucinations over time. Active psychosis is associated with hypofrontality, particularly in orbitofrontal regions [], and thus is strongly correlated with disruption in executive function, particularly working memory []. Another study found lateral frontal, lateral parietal, and anterior cingulate atrophy in AD patients with psychosis, with the lateral frontal region most severely degenerated []. Individual delusions may be associated with specific abnormalities in neural processing as evidence by PET imaging [], with delusions of persecution associated with hypoperfusion in the precuneus and hyperperfusion in the insula and thalamus. Other delusional forms are associated with distinct changes in perfusion, metabolism, receptor binding, and structural alternations []. Persecutory delusions occur early during the progression of AD and associate with disruption of frontostriatal circuits []. One study found delusions in 27.4% of AD patients, with paranoid delusions being the most common (60.3%), followed by misidentification delusions (19.0%), and then mixed delusions (17.5%), the latter appearing later and associated with greater cognitive impairment []. Psychotic patients show greater Aβ1-42 at autopsy []. A recent genome wide association study identified an intergenic region on chromosome 4 (rs753129), SNPs upstream of SLC2A9 (rs6834555), and within the neuronal Ca2+-sensor (NCS) proteins VSNL1 (rs4038131) as promising regions for specific associations with psychosis []. Note, however, that VSNLs are associated with Aβ and tau and so may reflect the overall severity of AD neurodegeneration rather than psychosis per se. Other possible associations specific to AD-associated psychosis include that with the dopamine oxidase A (DOA) gene and muscarinic receptors in orbital frontal cortex [].6. Conclusion, Early-stage Alzheimer's and related dementia symptoms are mild and the main role of a caregiver is support. Middle-Stage Caregiving During the middle stages of Alzheimer's, the person living with dementia will need a greater level of care., Abstract. Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) such as depression, apathy, aggression, and psychosis are now recognized as core features of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and there is a general consensus that greater symptom severity is predictive of faster cognitive decline, loss of independence, and even shorter survival..