The prevalence and clinical characteristics of Charles Bonnet syndrome in Chinese patients

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) in a group of Chinese older patients and to study whether CBS is associated with rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD). Methods Four hundred and thirty-two consecutive patients aged 60 years and above were asked a standardized question to determine if they had symptoms of CBS. If they responded positively, a detailed questionnaire was orally administered to inquire into the details of the symptoms. Results There were 238 men (55.1%) and 194 women (44.9%). Six (1.4%) patients of 432 had hallucinations attributable to CBS. The clinical characteristics of CBS hallucinations are quite variable between patients. No patient was pathologically confirmed to have RBD. Conclusion This is the first report on the epidemiology of CBS in mainland China. CBS is not uncommon in elderly, visually handicapped Chinese patients. The natures of the hallucinations experienced were similar to those previously reported. None of the CBS patients had evidence of RBD. Further studies are needed to investigate the prevalence of CBS in the general population.