Behavior determines times to care home admission and death in semantic dementia: Insights from a cohort of 90 cases
Marc Melkonian, William Lucas, Catherine Merck, Anne Salmon, Francis Eustache, Mickaël Laisney, Serge BelliardAbstract
INTRODUCTION
In semantic dementia (SD), no consistent prognostic factors for early care home (CH) admission or mortality have been identified, despite their potential utility in care management.
METHODS
Over a 31‐year period, we collected sociodemographic, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and behavioral data within a large cohort of 90 SD patients. Survival and risk factor analyses were conducted to identify variables mostly influencing CH admission and/or death.
RESULTS
Half of the patients were admitted to CH 7.5 years after diagnosis, and half died after 8.4 years. Behavior emerged as the sole baseline prognostic factor and even mild behavioral disorders were linked to earlier CH admission (3.0 years) and shorter survival (3.6 years), without influence of the predominant side of anterior temporal atrophy.
DISCUSSION
Behavioral disorders are a major risk factor for loss of independence in SD and a usable prognostic marker in clinical practice, regardless of the predominant side of temporal atrophy.