Background: While much disinhibition in dementia results from generalized impulsivity, in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) disinhibition may also result from impaired social cognition.
Objective: To deconstruct disinhibition and its neural correlates in bvFTD vs. early-onset Alzheimer's disease (eAD).
Methods: Caregivers of 16 bvFTD and 21 matched-eAD patients completed the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale disinhibition items. The disinhibition items were further categorized into (1) "person-based" subscale which predominantly associated with violating social propriety and personal boundary and (2) "generalized-impulsivity" subscale which included nonspecific impulsive acts. Subscale scores were correlated with grey matter volumes from tensor-based morphometry on magnetic resonance images.
Results: In comparison to the eAD patients, the bvFTD patients developed greater person-based disinhibition ( P < 0.001) but comparable generalized impulsivity. Severity of person-based disinhibition significantly correlated with the left anterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), and generalized-impulsivity correlated with the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the left anterior temporal lobe (aTL).
Conclusions: Person-based disinhibition was predominant in bvFTD and correlated with the left STS. In both dementia, violations of social propriety and personal boundaries involved fronto-parieto-temporal network of Theory of Mind, whereas nonspecific disinhibition involved the OFC and aTL.
Keywords: Alzheimer disease; Frontal System Behavior Scale; disinhibition; frontotemporal dementia.