Korzh S. Peculiarities of a Vascular Dementia in Patients with Comorbid Somatic Pathology (clinical and psychopathological aspects)

The dissertation focuses to the little understood conditions of psychopathological structure and cognitive deficit of vascular dementia in patients with comorbid somatic diseases. The dissertation highlights the analysis of psychopathological structure of vascular dementia in 106 patients exhibiting coexisting somatic diseases. The control group consisted of 59 patients with vascular dementia, but not exhibiting somatic pathologies. Using clinical-psychopathological and experimentally psychological methodology, the study concludes that somatic illness, concomitant with vascular dementia, leads to more profound impact on all cognitive functions, thereby increasing cognitive deficiency in patients with vascular dementia. Comparative analysis revealed the influencing factors of certain somatic diseases on the structure of cognitive deficiency in patients with vascular dementia. The study resulted in formulating a strategy of pshycotherapy, which focused on the optimization of cognitive functions which are selectively affected in specific somatic illnesses.