Typical Patients Who Present with Delusional Infestation

Freudenmann and Lepping listed 4 common types of patients who present with delusional infestation (DI).

Demographic Group	Clinical Features
middle-aged to elderly female, usually in the community	social isolation, no history of psychiatric disease, normal cognition, normal social function
middle-aged to elderly adult, may be in a nursing home	multiple comorbidities, dementia, impaired vision and/or hearing, paranoia, psychosis
elderly adult	vascular encephalopathy, cortical atrophy, vascular dementia
young adult	episodes coinciding with periods drug abuse (amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, other)

The first patient type is termed "primary" since it is not obviously secondary to an underlying disorder.

To read more or access our algorithms and calculators, please log in or register.