Personality changes in dementia: are they disease specific and universal?

Area of Science:

• Neuropsychology
• Geriatric Medicine
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Personality changes are observed in dementia, often attributed to biological disruptions.
• Previous research suggests these changes are disease-specific and universal.
• Limited evidence exists on personality changes in culturally diverse dementia populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare personality alterations in Argentinean patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), and primary progressive aphasia (PPA).
• To investigate the disease specificity of personality changes across these dementia subtypes.

Main Methods:

• Relatives of patients with AD (n=19), bvFTD (n=16), and PPA (n=15) completed the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised.
• The inventory assessed both premorbid and current personality traits.
• Statistical analysis compared personality changes across the three dementia groups.

Main Results:

• All dementia groups exhibited changes across multiple personality domains and facets.
• Observed personality change patterns were broadly consistent with prior studies.
• Disease-specific differences were inconclusive, with most traits showing generalized changes across groups.

Conclusions:

• Dementia onset appears to trigger generalized personality expression changes, not strictly disease-specific ones.
• Further research is required to differentiate true personality changes from other dementia-related symptoms.
• Culturally diverse data are essential for a comprehensive understanding of dementia-related personality alterations.