Depression or Frontotemporal Dementia? How to Tell
Depression or Frontotemporal Dementia? How to Tell
This is the Medscape Neurology Minute. I am Dr. Alan Jacobs. Depression is one of the main causes of misdiagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Now, researchers from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris have published a study evaluating the ability of the Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (SEA) and the mini-SEA to differentiate behavioral-variant FTD from major depressive disorder. They compared scores from the SEA and the mini-SEA in 37 patients with behavioral-variant FTD, 19 patients with major depression, and 30 control patients to define the discriminative power of these tools compared with standard neuropsychological tests. They found significantly lower SEA and mini-SEA scores from both early and moderate FTD groups compared with control patients and patients with major depression. Very few scores overlapped between these 4 groups. SEA and mini-SEA scores distinguished early behavioral-variant FTD from major depressive disorder with sensitivity and specificity rates above 94%. The investigators concluded that unlike standard neuropsychological tests, SEA and the mini-SEA can differentiate major depressive disorder from behavioral-variant FTD in the early stages of the disease, and that the mini-SEA is an easy tool to use in neurology and psychiatry settings. This study was selected from Medscape's Practice-Changing Articles in Neurology. I'm Dr. Alan Jacobs.
Abstract
This is the Medscape Neurology Minute. I am Dr. Alan Jacobs. Depression is one of the main causes of misdiagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Now, researchers from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris have published a study evaluating the ability of the Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (SEA) and the mini-SEA to differentiate behavioral-variant FTD from major depressive disorder. They compared scores from the SEA and the mini-SEA in 37 patients with behavioral-variant FTD, 19 patients with major depression, and 30 control patients to define the discriminative power of these tools compared with standard neuropsychological tests. They found significantly lower SEA and mini-SEA scores from both early and moderate FTD groups compared with control patients and patients with major depression. Very few scores overlapped between these 4 groups. SEA and mini-SEA scores distinguished early behavioral-variant FTD from major depressive disorder with sensitivity and specificity rates above 94%. The investigators concluded that unlike standard neuropsychological tests, SEA and the mini-SEA can differentiate major depressive disorder from behavioral-variant FTD in the early stages of the disease, and that the mini-SEA is an easy tool to use in neurology and psychiatry settings. This study was selected from Medscape's Practice-Changing Articles in Neurology. I'm Dr. Alan Jacobs.
Abstract
Source...