---
title: "Prediction of Psychosis in Alzheimer Disease"
id: "9282"
type: "study"
slug: "sa000085"
published_at: "2026-08-20T14:22:47+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-08-25T19:22:29+00:00"
url: "https://dss.niagads.org/studies/sa000085/"
markdown_url: "https://dss.niagads.org/studies/sa000085.md"
excerpt: "Psychotic symptoms, defined as the occurrence of delusions or hallucinations, are frequent in Alzheimer disease (AD with psychosis, AD+P), affecting ~ 40% to 60% of individuals with AD. AD+P identifies a subgroup of AD patients with poor outcomes. The strongest..."
---

## Description

Psychotic symptoms, defined as the occurrence of delusions or hallucinations, are frequent in Alzheimer disease (AD with psychosis, AD+P), affecting ~ 40% to 60% of individuals with AD. AD+P identifies a subgroup of AD patients with poor outcomes. The strongest clinical predictor of AD+P is a greater degree of cognitive impairment than in AD subjects without psychosis (AD- P). Although the estimated heritability of psychosis in AD is 61%, the underlying genetic sources of this risk is not known.

We conducted a genome-wide meta-analysis of 12,317 probable, possible, or autopsy-confirmed AD subjects, each of whom were characterized to be negative or positive for psychosis. The presence of psychosis was defined by the occurrence of delusions and/or hallucinations as assessed by standardized rating scales (see published manuscript for the details of the psychosis assessments in each contributing study program). The absence of psychosis required individuals to have no symptoms of psychosis at all evaluations and additionally to have progressed past the early stage of AD. This latter criterion was operationalized as a mini-mental state exam score =<20 or a clinical dementia rating scale score >=1.

## PI

Robert Sweet  
 *University of Pittsburgh*

## Associated Datasets

- [NG00122 - Prediction of Psychosis in Alzheimer Disease Summary Statistics - DeMichele-Sweet, et al., 2021](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00122/) Subjects included this study (N=12,317) originated from eight program sources, had probable, possible, or autopsy-confirmed AD, and were characterized to be negative or positive for psychosis (delusions and/or hallucinations). Program… [Learn more](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00122/)

## Grants

AG027224, MH116046, MH057881, AG030653, AG041718, AG066468

## Acknowledgement

### Acknowledgment statement for any data distributed by NIAGADS:

Data for this study were prepared, archived, and distributed by the National Institute on Aging Alzheimer's Disease Data Storage Site (NIAGADS) at the University of Pennsylvania (U24-AG041689), funded by the National Institute on Aging.

### For investigators using Prediction of Psychosis in Alzheimer Disease data:

This study was supported by the following federal grants: AG027224 (RAS), MH116046 (RAS), MH057881 (BD), AG030653 (MIK), AG041718 (MIK), AG066468 (OLL). Authors in the NIA-LOAD Family Based Study Consortium are Tatiana Foroud, M. Ilyas Kamboh, Oscar L. Lopez, and Richard Mayeux. Authors in the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) are Tatiana Foroud, Richard Mayeux, and Robert A. Sweet. A complete list of contributing individuals, consortia, and their grant support can be found in Supplementary Acknowledgements (PMID34112972).

## Publications

- DeMichele-Sweet MAA. **Genome-wide association identifies the first risk loci for psychosis in Alzheimer disease.***Molecular psychiatry. 2021 Oct.*[PubMed link](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34112972/)