A scale of socioemotional dysfunction in frontotemporal dementia

Abstract

Early social dysfunction is a hallmark symptom of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD); however, validated measures for assessing social deficits in dementia are needed. The purpose of the current study was to examine the utility of a novel informant-based measure of social impairment, the Socioemotional Dysfunction Scale (SDS) in early-onset dementia. Sixteen bvFTD and 18 early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) participants received standard clinical neuropsychological measures and neuroimaging. Caregiver informants were administered the SDS. Individuals with bvFTD exhibited greater social dysfunction on the SDS compared with the EOAD group; t(32) = 6.32, p < .001. The scale demonstrated preliminary evidence for discriminating these frequently misdiagnosed groups (area under the curve = 0.920, p = <.001) and internal consistency α = 0.977. The SDS demonstrated initial evidence as an effective measure for detecting abnormal social behavior and discriminating bvFTD from EOAD. Future validation is recommended in larger and more diverse patient groups.

Keywords: Behavioral assessment; Dementia; Neurodegenerative diseases; Presenile dementia; Semantic dementia; Social behavior.

Fig. 1.

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (BvFTD) and early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) group means on the Socioemotional Dysfunction Scale (SDS) with bars for SD. Bar graph of SDS total mean score between groups.

Fig. 2.

Receiver operating curve statistic of the SDS discriminating BvFTD from EOAD. Area under the curve = 0.920, p < .001. Receiver operating curve statistic of the SDS discriminating BvFTD from EOAD.