It is not clear whether differences in symptom presentation vary by age or etiological subtype in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. A PubMed search was conducted using the keyword "Creutzfeldt-Jakob" and results within the last 10 years were sorted by the English language. We found that certain characteristics, such as affective illness (28.8%), present more commonly in younger patients irrespective of disease type. Young age of onset predicts presenting symptoms of affective illness, sleep disturbance, and poor concentration, as well as certain neurological symptoms, including cerebellar/gait disturbance, visual/oculomotor disturbance, sensory disorder, vertigo/dizziness, and headache.

A retrospective review of patients with intracranial neoplasms was performed to identify characteristics of patients with comorbid depression and/or anxiety. This study suggests that depression and anxiety are common comorbidities and that preexisting psychiatric disorders predispose to their occurrence within the neuro-oncology setting.