Deficits in Everyday Function Differ in AD and FTD.

Alzheimer disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are 2 neurodegenerative diseases with differing cognitive and neuropathologic profiles. Although both diseases ultimately result in functional disability, differences in the profiles of everyday functioning between the 2 groups have not been well characterized. The present study examines potential differences in the types of everyday functional limitations present in these 2 dementias. The present study compared individuals with AD (N=240) or FTD (N=13). The Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale was used to measure distinct domains of everyday cognition: everyday memory, everyday language, everyday visuospatial ability, and a variety of everyday executive abilities. A total ECog score was used to represent global disability level. The groups showed equivalent levels of global disability. However, AD group exhibited worse Everyday Memory and Everyday Visuospatial abilities than the FTD group. Contrary to expectation, FTD was not more impaired in everyday executive abilities. Results remained similar when accounting for severity of cognitive impairment or disease duration. Findings suggest that a somewhat different pattern of everyday functional difficulties can be seen across dementia types.