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Utility of empathy informant report in FTD differential diagnosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2022

Carissa M. Lane Open the ORCID record for Carissa M. Lane [Opens in a new window] ,
Mary Lee ,
Jacob Lowe ,
Corey Bolton Open the ORCID record for Corey Bolton [Opens in a new window]  and
Benjamin A. Pyykkonen
Carissa M. Lane*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, USA Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mary Lee
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, USA University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
Jacob Lowe
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, USA Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Corey Bolton
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, USA Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
Benjamin A. Pyykkonen
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, USA
*
Corresponding author: Carissa M. Lane, email: carissa.lane@va.gov
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Abstract

Objective:

Loss of empathy is a hallmark feature of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Change in socioemotional functioning identified by others is often the primary initial presenting concern in this disorder, in contrast to more subtle early cognitive changes and limited patient insight. The present study examined the predictive utility of an empathy informant-report measure for discriminating clinician-diagnosed bvFTD from other dementia syndromes.

Method:

Data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) database were used to study individuals with bvFTD (n = 406) and other dementia syndromes (n = 385). Participants were administered neuropsychological measures and collateral informants completed an informant-report of empathy.

Results:

Informants reported that patients with bvFTD demonstrated significantly lower levels of empathic concern [F(1, 789) = 120.91, p < .001, η 2 = 0.13] and perspective taking [F(1, 789) = 153.08, p < .001, η 2 = 0.16] than patients with other dementia syndromes. These differences were not attributable to the level of global cognitive impairment. Empathy scores were not significantly associated with any neurocognitive measure when controlling for age. ROC curve analyses showed fair to good clinical utility of the informant-report empathy measure for distinguishing bvFTD from non-bvFTD, whereas a traditional measure of executive functioning failed to differentiate the groups.

Conclusions:

These findings indicate that informant ratings of empathy offer a unique source of clinical information that may be useful in detecting neurobehavioral changes specific to bvFTD before a clear neurocognitive pattern emerges on testing.

Keywords

frontotemporaldementiaexecutive functioningneurobehavioralcollateral informantsocioemotionalcognitive
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 29 , Issue 7 , August 2023 , pp. 670 - 676
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2022

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