Factitious disorder in a geriatric patient

Differential diagnosis is complicated in the case of a factitious disorder, episodic, course in a geriatric patient. Yet, the literature contains few references to geriatric cases of factitious disorder. A thorough work-up of a 71-year-old female admitted to a geriatric unit of a state mental hospital included psychiatric assessment, physical examination with ECG and EMG, neurological examination with EEG and CT, and partial neuropsychological screening. The negative findings were consistent with the patient's history and psychological test results. Since the patient's behavior appeared to change with exposure to patients diagnosed with dementia, rapid initial assessment was recommended in order to avoid symptom adaptation by patients presenting similarly.