Accuracy of the Clinical Diagnoses of Lewy Body Disease, Parkinson Disease, and Dementia With Lewy Bodies

Abstract

The low PPV with relatively high sensitivity for the diagnosis of PD suggests overdiagnosis. Conversely, the extremely low sensitivity for the diagnosis of DLB suggests underdiagnosis. Although the case mix included in the study may not reflect the frequency of these disorders in practice, limiting the clinical applicability of the validity measures, the raters' results were similar to those of the primary neurologists who were not exposed to such limitations. Overall, our study confirms features suggested to predict these disorders, except for the early presence of postural imbalance, which is not indicative of either disorder.