A case of suspected dementia in an elderly individual with autism spectrum disorder

Akito Tsugawa, Soichiro Shimizu, Yuta Inagawa, Shuntaro Serisawa, Shu Sakurai, Kentaro Hirao,
Hidekazu Kanetaka, Hirofumi Sakurai, Haruo Hanyu

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tokyo Medical University

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that appears in early development, and interferes with a patient’s interpersonal interactions and social life. Here we report a case of mild cognitive impairment owing to a neurodegenerative disease in an elderly individual with ASD. The patient was an 81-year-old man who was referred to the Memory Clinic at the Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, for examination of his cognitive function, as he had been a victim of fraud. His medical history was taken from a sibling, and a neurodevelopmental disorder was suspected. He hence underwent developmental and intelligence tests, and we found that in addition to mild cognitive impairment owing to a neurodegenerative disease, the patient had ASD. Our present case indicates that neurodevelopmental disorders should be considered when identifying the cause of elderly patient’s problems, rather than simply attributing them to dementia.
Key words:Neurodevelopmental disorders, Autism spectrum disorder, Alzheimer disease

Address Correspondence to Dr. Akito Tsugawa, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tokyo Medical University (6-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan)