Theory of mind impairment in patients with behavioural variant fronto-temporal dementia (bv-FTD) increases caregiver burden

• Published in: Age and ageing Vol. 44; no. 5; pp. 891 - 895
• Main Authors: Brioschi Guevara, Andrea, Knutson, Kristine M, Wassermann, Eric M, Pulaski, Sarah, Grafman, Jordan, Krueger, Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.09.2015; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Atrophy; Caregivers; Caregivers - psychology; Case-Control Studies; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cost of Illness; Dementia; Emotions; Empathy; Female; Frontal Lobe - pathology; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Frontotemporal dementia; Frontotemporal Dementia - diagnosis; Frontotemporal Dementia - physiopathology; Frontotemporal Dementia - psychology; Frontotemporal Dementia - therapy; Health aspects; Humans; Intelligence; Interviews as Topic; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Neurological disorders; Neuropsychological Tests; Older people; Practice; Risk factors; Short Reports; Temporal Lobe - pathology; Temporal Lobe - physiopathology; Theory of Mind; frontal cortex; older people; voxel-based morphometry; theory of mind; caregiver burden; faux-pas task
• ISSN: 0002-0729; 1468-2834
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afv059

Theory of mind (ToM), the capacity to infer the intention, beliefs and emotional states of others, is frequently impaired in behavioural variant fronto-temporal dementia patients (bv-FTDp); however, its impact on caregiver burden is unexplored. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health. bv-FTDp (n = 28), a subgroup of their caregivers (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 32). we applied a faux-pas (FP) task as a ToM measure in bv-FTDp and healthy controls and the Zarit Burden Interview as a measure of burden in patients' caregivers. Patients underwent structural MRI; we used voxel-based morphometry to examine relationships between regional atrophy and ToM impairment and caregiver burden. FP task performance was impaired in bv-FTDp and negatively associated with caregiver burden. Atrophy was found in areas involved in ToM. Caregiver burden increased with greater atrophy in left lateral premotor cortex, a region associated in animal models with the presence of mirror neurons, possibly involved in empathy. ToM impairment in bv-FTDp is associated with increased caregiver burden.