Frontotemporal Dementia Behavioral Variant: Which Factors Underly Caregiver Strain? (P04.225)

Abstract

Objective: We intended to find out whether severity of dementia, the frontal dysexecutive syndrome, parkinsonian motor symptoms, impaired instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), deficits in the Barthel index or behavioral and neuropsychiatric abnormalities contribute to caregiver strain in frontotemporal dementia behavioral variant (FTDbv). Background FTDbv is characterised by dementia, neuropsychiatric and behavioral abnormalities, sometimes parkinsonian motor symptoms, impaired IADL, and may be associated with substantial caregiver strain. Design/Methods: Consecutive patients with FTDbv and Alzheimer dementia (AD) were evaluated for cognition (CERAD+; frontal assessment battery, FAB, Dubois 2000), IADL (LawtonB Rivermead, Whiting 1980), Barthel Index, parkinsonian motor symptoms (Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale, UPDRS) and behavioral abnormalities (Neuropsychiatric inventory, NPI, Cummings 1994; Frontal Behavioral Inventory, FBI, Kertesz 2000). Results: Thirty-three patients with early FTDbv (Neary 1998) and 29 with probable AD (McKhann 1984) were examined. MMSE was similar in both groups (median 22). Age was higher in the AD group (mean 66 versus 75, p Conclusions: Preliminary data of our series confirms previous studies that caregiver strain is more severe in FTDbv than in AD. Behavioral abnormalities, assessed by NPI and FBI, but not severity of dementia or frontal dysexecutive impairment, parkinsonian motor symptoms, impairment in ADL or depression correlate with caregiver strain. FBI and NPI, informant based inventories, correlated to one another and revealed neuropsychiatric symptoms which probably contribute to caregiver strain in FTDbv. Supported by: Jubilaumsfonds of the Austrian National Bank Project number 13240. Disclosure: Dr. Ransmayr has received personal compensation for activities with Abbot, Allergan, Biogen-Idec, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Cephalon, Esai, GSK, Lundbeck, Merck-Serono, Merz, Novartis, The Austrian Neurological Society, The Austrian Parkinson Society, Austrial Alzheimer Society, BAIL, Sanofi-Aventis and UCB as a consultant, speaker, and board member.Dr. Ransmayr has received research support from Abbot, BIAL, Biogen-Idec, Lundbeck, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis. Dr. Steffelbauer has nothing to disclose. Dr. Schmidegg has nothing to disclose. Dr. Struhal has nothing to disclose.