Risk factors to mortality and causes of death in frontotemporal dementia: An Australian perspective.

Abstract

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a common cause of dementia in younger people. There is less information known about risk factors to mortality such as the type of symptom onset and cause of death in this group. This was a retrospective file review of inpatients with FTD admitted to a tertiary neuropsychiatry unit located in Australia from 1992 to 2014. Mortality information including linkage of names and causes of death were obtained from the Australian Institute Health and Welfare National Death Index. One hundred inpatients were diagnosed with FTD, including behavioural-variant, language-variant FTDs and FTD-motor neuron disease (FTD-MND). Mean age was 52.8years (SD=10, range 31-76years). Sixty-seven of them had died at linkage. Median survival of the sample was 10.5years and FTD-MND had the shortest survival, 3.5years. Increasing age of onset and FTD-MND were found to be significant predictors of association for mortality. Compared to the general population, having a FTD had an 8× increased risk of death. Females had double the standardised mortality ratio compared to males. This study provides important prognostic information for people diagnosed with FTD living in Australia. It highlights the importance of obtaining a definitive diagnosis as early as possible for future planning. More investigation into the relationship of symptom onset type and sex differences in FTD is required.