Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Heralding the Onset of Semantic Frontotemporal Dementia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with cognitive decline. The dementia type following PTSD is unclear.

Objective

To assess whether PTSD is associated with a specific dementia.

Methods

Prospective study: 46 PTSD patients (DSM-IV-TR) were followed for 6-10 years with clinical, neuropsychological, imaging evaluations for possible development of dementia.Retrospective study:849 dementia patients followed during 1999-2014 (509 Alzheimer's disease, AD; 207 dementia with Lewy bodies, DLB; 90 vascular dementia, VaD; 43 frontotemporal dementia, FTD) and 287 patients with any neurological condition (including patients with/without dementia) were evaluated for the presence of PTSD in their history.

Results

Prospective study: 8 patients developed dementia; 1 AD, 1 DLB, 6 semantic FTD (13.0% of the PTSD population). Retrospective study: 38 patients (4.5%) had a history of PTSD; 3.5% of AD, 4.3% of DLB, 14.0% of FTD, 5.6% of VaD. The percentage was higher in FTD than in AD or DLB (?2?=?10, p?=?0.001, and ?2?=?6, p?=?0.02). At difference with AD, DLB, or VaD, FTD incidence among dementia patients with PTSD history (38 patients) was higher than in the dementia population overall (16% versus 5%, ?2?=?8, p?=?0.005). The impact of possible demographical/clinical confounders (age, gender, MMSE) was excluded by Poisson regression. PTSD prevalence in the comparative group without dementia matched the prevalence in the Italian general population (1.1%). PTSD prevalence in the demented comparative group matched the prevalence in our dementia retrospective cohort, 3.7%).

Discussion

PTSD was associated with the development of semantic FTD.

SUBMITTER: Bonanni L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5900559 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature