Survival in a German population with frontotemporal lobar degeneration

The present study aimed at analysing survival of patients with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), semantic dementia (SD) and progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA). Furthermore, the objective of the study was to identify prognostic factors associated with survival and to examine causes of death.

Interviews were performed with the proxies of 124 patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

Survival from the onset of first symptoms was significantly longer in SD than in bvFTD (10.5 years). Median survival in PNFA was 12.6 years. Age at onset, gender, education and severity of dementia at diagnosis did not significantly influence survival. We did not identify any phenocopy cases. The most frequent cause of death as reported by caregivers was respiratory system disorder.

This study adds to the growing literature on survival in patients with FTLD and provides insights into the causes of death.