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Clinicopathological correlates in frontotemporal dementia
Hodges JR, Davies RR, Xuereb JH, Casey B, Broe M, Bak TH, Kril JJ, Halliday GM.. Annals of neurology, 2004-09-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
The term frontotemporal dementia (FTD) encompasses a range of clinical syndromes that are believed not to map reliably onto the spectrum of recognized pathologies. This study reexamines the relationships between clinical and pathological subtypes of FTD in a large series from two centers (n = 61). Clinical subtypes defined were behavioral variant FTD (n = 26), language variants (semantic dementia, n = 9; and progressive nonfluent aphasia, n = 8), and motor variants (corticobasal degeneration, n = 9; and motor neuron disease, n = 9), although most cases presented with a combination of behavioral and language problems. Unexpectedly, some behavioral cases (n = 5) had marked amnesia at presentation. The pathological subtypes were those with tau-immunopositive inclusions (with Pick bodies, n = 20; or without, n = 11), those with ubiquitin immunopositive inclusions (n = 16), and those lacking distinctive histology (n = 14). Behavioral symptoms and semantic dementia were associated with a range of pathologies. In contrast, other clinical phenotypes had relatively uniform underlying pathologies: motor neuron disease predicted ubiquitinated inclusions, parkinsonism and apraxia predicted corticobasal pathology, and nonfluent aphasia predicted Pick bodies. Therefore, the pathological substrate can be predicted in a significant proportion of FTD patients, which has important implications for studies targeting mechanistic treatments.
Key findings
- Behavioral symptoms and semantic dementia were associated with a range of pathologies.
- Therefore, the pathological substrate can be predicted in a significant proportion of FTD patients, which has important implications for studies targeting mechanistic treatments.
Why it matters
In 61 people with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) from two centres, this study compared how the illness showed up in life with what their brain tissue showed. For behavioural-variant FTD (26) and semantic dementia (9), symptoms did not point to one type of brain change. Motor neuron disease, parkinsonism with apraxia, and nonfluent aphasia did each point to one type. The authors say this matters for designing trials of treatments aimed at specific disease processes. This is a study of FTD, not Alzheimer's or Lewy body disease, and it tested no treatment.
Study details
- Participants61
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 58/100
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 (Annals of neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Annals of Neurology: journal h-index 437 (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 | 2004 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 61 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 | 6 / 7 | Cited 583 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 24.3 citations a year over 24 year(s) since 2004 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 24.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 4 / 6 | Cited by 45 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 20 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Glenda Margaret Halliday: h-index 137 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | The University of Sydney: institution h-index 1,466 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 15349867) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 58 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1002/ana.20203
- PubMed: 15349867
- Original source →
- Free full text: Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) →
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. The record names 8 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Hodges, JR., Davies, R. R., Xuereb, J. H., Casey, B., Broe, M., Bak, T. H., et al. (2004). Clinicopathological correlates in frontotemporal dementia. Annals of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.20203
Vancouver
Hodges JR, Davies RR, Xuereb JH, Casey B, Broe M, Bak TH, et al. Clinicopathological correlates in frontotemporal dementia. Annals of neurology. 2004. doi:10.1002/ana.20203. PMID: 15349867.
BibTeX
@article{hodges2004-15349867,
author = {Hodges, JR. and Davies, R. R. and Xuereb, J. H. and Casey, B. and Broe, M. and Bak, T. H. and Kril, J. J. and Halliday, G. M.},
title = {{Clinicopathological correlates in frontotemporal dementia}},
journal = {Annals of neurology},
year = {2004},
doi = {10.1002/ana.20203},
pmid = {15349867},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.20203}
}
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