{"title":"Social Cognition Deficits Are Pervasive across Both Classical and Overlap Frontotemporal Dementia Syndromes.","authors":"Faheem Arshad, Avanthi Paplikar, Shailaja Mekala, Feba Varghese, Vandana Valiyaparambath Purushothaman, Darshini Jeevandra Kumar, Leena Shingavi, Seena Vengalil, Subasree Ramakrishnan, Ravi Yadav, Pramod Kumar Pal, Atchayaram Nalini, Suvarna Alladi","doi":"10.1159/000511329","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) syndromes are a complex group of disorders characterised by profound changes in behaviour and cognition. Many of the observed behavioural abnormalities are now recognised to be due to impaired social cognition. While deficits in emotion recognition and empathy are well-recognised in behavioural-variant (Bv)FTD, limited information exists about the nature of social cognitive impairment in the language variant primary progressive aphasia (PPA) that includes progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA) and semantic dementia (SD), and in the motor variants FTD amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS) and FTD progressive supranuclear palsy (FTD-PSP). This prospective study sought to explore the nature and profile of social cognition deficits across the spectrum of FTD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Sixty patients on the FTD spectrum, i.e., classical (16 with BvFTD and 20 with PPA) and overlap FTD syndromes (13 with FTD-ALS and 11 with FTD-PSP) were evaluated by means of the social cognition tasks, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) for empathy, and pictures of facial affect (POFA) for emotion recognition. General cognition and behaviour were also assessed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A significant impairment in emotion recognition and empathy was detected in both the classical and overlap FTD syndromes. The recognition of positive emotions was relatively preserved compared to that of negative emotions. Among the FTD subtypes, maximal impairment of empathy was demonstrated in FTD-PSP.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Social cognition impairment is pervasive across the spectrum of FTD disorders, and tests of emotion recognition and empathy are clinically useful to identify the nature of behavioural problems in both classical and overlap FTD. Our findings also have implications for understanding the neural basis of social cognition in FTD.</p>","PeriodicalId":38017,"journal":{"name":"Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra","volume":"10 3","pages":"115-126"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2020-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1159/000511329","citationCount":"12","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000511329","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2020/9/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 12
Abstract
Objectives: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) syndromes are a complex group of disorders characterised by profound changes in behaviour and cognition. Many of the observed behavioural abnormalities are now recognised to be due to impaired social cognition. While deficits in emotion recognition and empathy are well-recognised in behavioural-variant (Bv)FTD, limited information exists about the nature of social cognitive impairment in the language variant primary progressive aphasia (PPA) that includes progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA) and semantic dementia (SD), and in the motor variants FTD amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS) and FTD progressive supranuclear palsy (FTD-PSP). This prospective study sought to explore the nature and profile of social cognition deficits across the spectrum of FTD.
Methods: Sixty patients on the FTD spectrum, i.e., classical (16 with BvFTD and 20 with PPA) and overlap FTD syndromes (13 with FTD-ALS and 11 with FTD-PSP) were evaluated by means of the social cognition tasks, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) for empathy, and pictures of facial affect (POFA) for emotion recognition. General cognition and behaviour were also assessed.
Results: A significant impairment in emotion recognition and empathy was detected in both the classical and overlap FTD syndromes. The recognition of positive emotions was relatively preserved compared to that of negative emotions. Among the FTD subtypes, maximal impairment of empathy was demonstrated in FTD-PSP.
Conclusion: Social cognition impairment is pervasive across the spectrum of FTD disorders, and tests of emotion recognition and empathy are clinically useful to identify the nature of behavioural problems in both classical and overlap FTD. Our findings also have implications for understanding the neural basis of social cognition in FTD.
期刊介绍:
This open access and online-only journal publishes original articles covering the entire spectrum of cognitive dysfunction such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s chorea and other neurodegenerative diseases. The journal draws from diverse related research disciplines such as psychogeriatrics, neuropsychology, clinical neurology, morphology, physiology, genetic molecular biology, pathology, biochemistry, immunology, pharmacology and pharmaceutics. Strong emphasis is placed on the publication of research findings from animal studies which are complemented by clinical and therapeutic experience to give an overall appreciation of the field. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra provides additional contents based on reviewed and accepted submissions to the main journal Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra .