TY - JOUR T1 - How common is dementia with Lewy bodies? JF - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry JO - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry SP - 697 LP - 698 DO - 10.1136/jnnp.74.6.697 VL - 74 IS - 6 AU - R A Barker AU - T Foltynie Y1 - 2003/06/01 UR - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/74/6/697.abstract N2 - Meeting consensus criteria for the diagnosis of DLB Establishing frequency figures for diseases for which there is no reliable biomarker during life is particularly difficult. As a result, various diagnostic criteria have been established to improve the accuracy of clinical diagnoses for the neurodegenerative disorders, based on the previous evidence of clinicopathological studies of defined pathologies. Such consensus clinical criteria are invaluable for increasing the specificity and precision of diagnoses, although with increasing specificity comes an inevitable loss of sensitivity, such that some cases get overlooked.In this issue (see pp 720–724) Rahkonen et al have attempted to define the prevalence of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) in people over the age of 75 using a population based approach, in the Finnish city of Kuopio.1 This study randomly selects 700 out … ER -