Sistema FMUSP-HC: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP) e Hospital das Clínicas da FMUSPABDO, Carmita H. N.2014-01-282014-01-282013CURRENT OPINION IN PSYCHIATRY, v.26, n.6, p.593-598, 20130951-7367https://observatorio.fm.usp.br/handle/OPI/4248Purpose of reviewThe review assesses recent research and its impact on understanding of intimacy and sexuality in older adults with dementia.Recent findingsThere is no universally accepted definition of inappropriate sexual behaviors (ISBs), but they have been divided into overt acts associated with increased libido and uninhibited sexual behaviors directed at oneself or other people.Couples affected by dementia frequently maintain physical intimacy. Nonintercourse intimate activities may be preferred over intercourse. Early therapeutic interventions may assist partners in modifying activities, behaviors, and expectations about the future of the relationship.Inappropriate sexual behaviors are commonly due to the disruption of interconnected brain structures. Trauma to the temporal lobes may lead to hypersexuality and ISB. Trauma to the limbic system can produce changes in sexual preference. Both temporal and frontotemporal dementias, or either of them, often present with socially and sexually inappropriate behaviors. Huntington's disease can exhibit hypersexuality, pedophilia, promiscuity, and marital infidelity. The involvement of the medial striatum of the basal ganglia in this disease explains the prevalence of ISB.There is no consensus regarding first-line pharmacotherapy for ISB. Little information is known about the adverse effects.SummaryClinicians and society need to consider how dementia might affect physical intimacy.engrestrictedAccessagedassessmentdementiaintimacysexual behaviortreatmentmild cognitive impairmentalzheimers-diseaseolder-adultsmarital relationshipgender-differencesbehaviorscaresymptomsqualitypeoplearticleCopyright LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS10.1097/YCO.0b013e328365a262Psychiatry