Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease
ABSTRACT Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous clinicopathological syndrome whose early diagnosis is critical for developing management strategies. Objective: To analyze the variables associated with misdiagnosis in a group of patients with FTD, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and without neurodegenerative disorders (WND), all of whom were evaluated for behavioral and cognitive complaints. Methods: A case-control study with FTD (n=10), probable AD (n=10) and WND (n=10) patients was carried out. The studied variables were disease duration, reason for referral, former diagnosis, behavioral and cognitive symptoms at evaluation, MMSE at the specialist evaluation, and follow-up outcome. The data were analyzed by ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc and by Pearson's Chi-Square tests. Results: FTD patients and WND patients showed longer disease duration than AD patients; the main reasons for referral in the FTD group were behavioral, memory and memory plus language problems while all AD and 90% of the WND group were referred for memory. The FTD group had the highest rate of misdiagnosis and worst outcomes after the 12-month follow-up. The majority of AD and WND patients had memory symptoms, while FTD patients presented language (30%), memory and/or language (40%) problems on the evaluation. Conclusion: Difficulty in recognizing the main features of FTD and psychiatric disorders with memory impairment was observed. Clinicians tended to generalize memory complaints toward a single diagnosis, identifying almost all these patients as AD or leaving them undiagnosed.
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Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e Envelhecimento
2013
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oai:scielo:S1980-576420130001000602016-06-16Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's diseaseBeber,Bárbara CostaChaves,Márcia L.F. frontotemporal dementia Alzheimer's disease diagnosis ABSTRACT Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous clinicopathological syndrome whose early diagnosis is critical for developing management strategies. Objective: To analyze the variables associated with misdiagnosis in a group of patients with FTD, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and without neurodegenerative disorders (WND), all of whom were evaluated for behavioral and cognitive complaints. Methods: A case-control study with FTD (n=10), probable AD (n=10) and WND (n=10) patients was carried out. The studied variables were disease duration, reason for referral, former diagnosis, behavioral and cognitive symptoms at evaluation, MMSE at the specialist evaluation, and follow-up outcome. The data were analyzed by ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc and by Pearson's Chi-Square tests. Results: FTD patients and WND patients showed longer disease duration than AD patients; the main reasons for referral in the FTD group were behavioral, memory and memory plus language problems while all AD and 90% of the WND group were referred for memory. The FTD group had the highest rate of misdiagnosis and worst outcomes after the 12-month follow-up. The majority of AD and WND patients had memory symptoms, while FTD patients presented language (30%), memory and/or language (40%) problems on the evaluation. Conclusion: Difficulty in recognizing the main features of FTD and psychiatric disorders with memory impairment was observed. Clinicians tended to generalize memory complaints toward a single diagnosis, identifying almost all these patients as AD or leaving them undiagnosed.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAcademia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e EnvelhecimentoDementia & Neuropsychologia v.7 n.1 20132013-03-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articletext/htmlhttp://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642013000100060en10.1590/S1980-57642013DN70100010 |
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Beber,Bárbara Costa Chaves,Márcia L.F. |
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Beber,Bárbara Costa Chaves,Márcia L.F. Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
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Beber,Bárbara Costa Chaves,Márcia L.F. |
author_sort |
Beber,Bárbara Costa |
title |
Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
title_short |
Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
title_full |
Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
title_fullStr |
Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: Misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
title_sort |
evaluation of patients with behavioral and cognitive complaints: misdiagnosis in frontotemporal dementia and alzheimer's disease |
description |
ABSTRACT Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous clinicopathological syndrome whose early diagnosis is critical for developing management strategies. Objective: To analyze the variables associated with misdiagnosis in a group of patients with FTD, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and without neurodegenerative disorders (WND), all of whom were evaluated for behavioral and cognitive complaints. Methods: A case-control study with FTD (n=10), probable AD (n=10) and WND (n=10) patients was carried out. The studied variables were disease duration, reason for referral, former diagnosis, behavioral and cognitive symptoms at evaluation, MMSE at the specialist evaluation, and follow-up outcome. The data were analyzed by ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc and by Pearson's Chi-Square tests. Results: FTD patients and WND patients showed longer disease duration than AD patients; the main reasons for referral in the FTD group were behavioral, memory and memory plus language problems while all AD and 90% of the WND group were referred for memory. The FTD group had the highest rate of misdiagnosis and worst outcomes after the 12-month follow-up. The majority of AD and WND patients had memory symptoms, while FTD patients presented language (30%), memory and/or language (40%) problems on the evaluation. Conclusion: Difficulty in recognizing the main features of FTD and psychiatric disorders with memory impairment was observed. Clinicians tended to generalize memory complaints toward a single diagnosis, identifying almost all these patients as AD or leaving them undiagnosed. |
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Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e Envelhecimento |
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2013 |
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http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642013000100060 |
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