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Cognitive decline in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2010

Janine Diehl-Schmid ,
Susanne Bornschein ,
Corina Pohl ,
Hans Förstl ,
Alexander Kurz  and
Thomas Jahn
Janine Diehl-Schmid*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry of Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
Susanne Bornschein
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry of Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
Corina Pohl
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry of Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
Hans Förstl
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry of Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
Alexander Kurz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry of Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
Thomas Jahn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry of Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Janine Diehl-Schmid, Center for Cognitive Disorders, Department of Psychiatry of TU München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675 München, Germany. Phone: +49–89-41406488; Fax: +49–89-41404923. Email: anine.schmid@lrz.tu-muenchen.de.
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Abstract

Background: Only a small number of studies on the natural disease course in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) have been conducted. This is surprising because knowledge about the progression of symptoms is a precondition for the design of clinical drug trials.

Methods: The aim of the present study was to examine the cognitive decline of 20 patients with mild bvFTD over one year using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease – Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (CERAD-NAB).

Results: Within an average follow-up interval of 13 months, patient scores declined significantly in the Mini-mental-State-Examination (MMSE) and the CERAD-NAB subtests of naming, verbal and nonverbal memory. No significant changes were found in the CERAD-NAB subtests of category fluency, recognition, and visuoconstruction. The average annualized decline on the MMSE was 4.0 ± 4.9 points. Ceiling effects were detected in Figures Copy, Word List Recognition and Modified Boston Naming Test. Though the included patient group was rather homogeneous regarding severity of dementia, the cognitive changes were very heterogeneous.

Conclusion: Given the heterogeneity of cognitive decline, the design of a test battery for clinical trials in FTD will be challenging. A cognitive battery should definitely include the MMSE, Word List Learning and Word List Delayed Recall.

Keywords

frontotemporal dementia (FTD)cognitive declineCERAD-NABMMSEneuropsychologyannual rate of change
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 230 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2010

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