Direct and Indirect Assessments of Activities of Daily Living in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer Disease

Background: There is limited information about the functional profile of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Objective: To compare direct and indirect assessments of activities of daily living (ADLs) in bvFTD and Alzheimer disease (AD) and their relationship with cognitive performance. Methods: In all, 20 patients with bvFTD, 30 patients with AD, and 34 normal controls (NCs), matched for age, education, and severity of dementia, completed the Direct Assessment of Functional Performance (DAFS-BR) and usual cognitive measures. The Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD) was completed by caregivers. Results: In DAFS-BR, patients with bvFTD and AD had similar performance but lower than NCs. In DAD, there were no significant differences for effective performance, but patients with bvFTD had lower scores for initiation and planning/organization. Patients with bvFTD were less impaired than AD in cognition. Conclusion: Functional changes in bvFTD seem to be better documented by indirect measures.