Apathy and Disinhibition Related to Neuropathology in Amnestic Versus Behavioral Dementias

Abstract

Objectives: Investigating the frequency of apathy and disinhibition in patients clinically diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) or behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) with neuropathology of either Alzheimer disease (AD) or frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Methods: Retrospective data from 887 cases were analyzed, and the frequencies of apathy and disinhibition were compared at baseline and longitudinally in 4 groups: DAT/AD, DAT/FTLD, bvFTD/FTLD, and bvFTD/AD. Results: Apathy alone was more common in AD (33%) than FTLD (25%), and the combination of apathy and disinhibition was more common in FTLD (43%) than AD (14%; P