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Published on: September 20, 2018
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Clinical Manifestations
Patricio Riquelme Contreras1,2,3,4, Natalia Santis Alay5, Fernando Henriquez6,7,8,9
1Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism (GERO), Santiago, Metropolitana, Chile.
Alzheimer'S & Dementia : the Journal of the Alzheimer'S Association
|December 24, 2025
Summary
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients in Latin America exhibit poorer functional performance, particularly in basic activities of daily living (BADL), compared to Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. This highlights a significant difference in functional impairment between these dementia types in the region.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Clinical Neurology
Background:
- Functional impairment (FI) in activities of daily living (ADL) is a key dementia diagnostic criterion, encompassing basic (BADL), instrumental (IADL), and advanced (aADL) dimensions.
- While FI in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is well-researched, its characterization in frontotemporal dementia (FTD), especially in diverse Latin American populations, remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare functional performance across basic, instrumental, and advanced activities of daily living between FTD and AD patients in Latin America.
- To investigate the differences in functional impairment profiles between FTD and AD within a diverse Latin American cohort.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated 547 individuals (262 controls, 236 AD, 49 FTD) from the RedLat consortium across five Latin American countries.
- Assessed functional performance using the Technology-Activities of Daily Living (T-ADLQ) global score and subscores (BADL, IADL, aADL).
- Employed Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn post-hoc tests to compare T-ADLQ scores among the control, AD, and FTD groups.
Main Results:
- FTD participants demonstrated poorer functional performance than AD participants across all T-ADLQ domains (global, BADL, IADL, aADL).
- The difference in functional performance between FTD and AD was statistically significant specifically in the basic activities of daily living (BADL) domain.
- AD patients exhibited poorer global cognitive performance compared to FTD patients, while FTD patients showed higher Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) scores.
Conclusions:
- Frontotemporal dementia patients in Latin America exhibit significantly poorer functional performance in basic activities of daily living compared to Alzheimer's disease patients.
- These findings underscore distinct functional impairment profiles between FTD and AD in the Latin American context.
- Further research is recommended to explore the relationship between functional performance, cognitive symptoms, and clinical presentation to fully characterize the FTD functional profile.
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