Home › Research › Digital health tools
Clinicopathologic differences among patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia
Mendez MF, Karve SJ, Tassniyom K, Teng E, Shapira JS.. Neurology, 2013-01-16
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Objective To characterize the presenting symptoms and signs of patients clinically diagnosed with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and who had different neuropathologic findings on autopsy. Methods This study reviewed all patients entered as clinical bvFTD in the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center's database and who had both clinical and neuropathologic data from 2005 to 2011. Among the 107 patients identified, 95 had unambiguous pathologic findings, including 74 with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (bvFTD-FTLD) and 21 with Alzheimer disease (bvFTD-AD). The patients with bvFTD-FTLD were further subdivided into τ-positive (n = 23) or τ-negative (n = 51) histopathology subgroups. Presenting clinical signs and symptoms were compared between these neuropathologic groups. Results The patients with bvFTD-FTLD were significantly more likely than patients with bvFTD-AD to have initially predominant personality changes and poor judgment/decision-making. In contrast, patients with bvFTD-AD were more likely than patients with bvFTD-FTLD to have memory difficulty and delusions/hallucinations and agitation. Within the bvFTD-FTLD group, the τ-positive subgroup had more patients with initial behavioral problems and personality change than the τ-negative subgroup, who, in turn, had more patients with initial cognitive impairment and speech problems. Conclusion During life, patients with AD pathology may be misdiagnosed with bvFTD if they have an early age at onset and prominent neuropsychiatric features despite having greater memory difficulties and more intact personality and executive functions than patients with bvFTD-FTLD. Among those with FTLD pathology, patients with τ-positive bvFTD were likely to present with behavior/personality changes. These findings offer clues for antemortem recognition of neuropathologic subtypes of bvFTD.
Key findings
- Results The patients with bvFTD-FTLD were significantly more likely than patients with bvFTD-AD to have initially predominant personality changes and poor judgment/decision-making.
- These findings offer clues for antemortem recognition of neuropathologic subtypes of bvFTD.
Why it matters
Among 107 patients clinically diagnosed with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia who had autopsy data, those with frontotemporal lobar degeneration were more likely to have initial personality changes and poor judgment, while those with Alzheimer disease pathology were more likely to have memory difficulty, delusions or hallucinations, and agitation. The findings offer clues for recognizing neuropathologic subtypes before death and report nothing about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Digital health →
Study details
- Participants23
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 48/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Neurology: journal h-index 525 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2013 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 23 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 96 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 6.4 citations a year over 15 year(s) since 2013 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 7.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 9 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 8 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Jill S. Shapira: h-index 34 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, Los Angeles: institution h-index 1,923 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 23325909) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 48 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0b013e3182815547
- PubMed: 23325909
- Original source →
- Free full text: PubMed Central →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Mendez, M. F., Karve, S. J., Tassniyom, K., Teng, E., & Shapira, J. S. (2013). Clinicopathologic differences among patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0b013e3182815547
Vancouver
Mendez MF, Karve SJ, Tassniyom K, Teng E, Shapira JS. Clinicopathologic differences among patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Neurology. 2013. doi:10.1212/wnl.0b013e3182815547. PMID: 23325909.
BibTeX
@article{mendez2013-23325909,
author = {Mendez, M. F. and Karve, S. J. and Tassniyom, K. and Teng, E. and Shapira, J. S.},
title = {{Clinicopathologic differences among patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia}},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1212/wnl.0b013e3182815547},
pmid = {23325909},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0b013e3182815547}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here. Showing 12 of 17.
Later studies that cite this one
9 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references. Showing the 8 highest-scoring.