PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Maxime Bertoux
AU  - Marine Delavest
AU  - Leonardo Cruz de Souza
AU  - Aurélie Funkiewiez
AU  - Jean-Pierre Lépine
AU  - Philippe Fossati
AU  - Bruno Dubois
AU  - Marie Sarazin
TI  - Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment differentiates frontotemporal dementia from depression
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp-2011-301849
DP  - 2012 Apr 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 411--416
VI  - 83
IP  - 4
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/83/4/411.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/83/4/411.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry2012 Apr 01; 83
AB  - Background Behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is clinically characterised by progressive behavioural changes and social interpersonal dysfunctions. Its diagnosis remains a clinical challenge, and depression is one of the main causes of misdiagnoses due to the prevalence of apathy in bvFTD.Objective To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (SEA) and the mini-SEA for differentiating bvFTD from major depressive disorder (MDD).Methods Scores for the SEA and mini-SEA for 37 patients with bvFTD (divided into subgroups of 17 with early bvFTD and 20 with moderate bvFTD according to the normal range of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale), 19 MDD patients and 30 control subjects were compared to define the discrimination power of these tools compared with other standard neuropsychological tests.Results SEA and mini-SEA scores were significantly lower for both the early and moderate bvFTD groups compared with control subjects and the MDD group, and very few scores overlapped between patients in the bvFTD subgroups and patients in the MDD and control subgroups. SEA and mini-SEA scores distinguished early bvFTD from MDD with sensitivity and specificity rates above 94%.Conclusion Unlike standard executive neuropsychological tests, SEA and the mini-SEA can differentiate MDD from bvFTD in the early stages of the disease. The mini-SEA is an easy tool that can be utilised in neurological or psychiatric departments.