Nondysphoric depression in Parkinson’s disease and frontotemporal dementia

PABLO RICHLY; FACUNDO MANES; EZEQUIEL GLEICHGERRCHT; ANABEL CHADE; ARÉVALO GONZALO; OSCAR GERSHANIK; MARÍA ROCA; SERGIO PARADISO

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 14th International Congress of Parkinson´s Disease and Movement Disorders; 2010

The Movement Disorder Society

OBJECTIVE: The porpouse of this study was to compare the prevalence of Nondysphoric Depression (NDD) in Parkinson Disease (PD) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). BACKGROUND: NDD is one of the subsyndromal conditions characterized by depressive symptoms not endorsing sadness or anhedonia (i.e, dysphoria). Several empirical studies have found that this condition may be a long-term risk factor for cognitive decline and mortality. There are previous studies in neuropsychiatric patients, with a NDD prevalence of 6.6%, associated with right hemisphere stoke. DESIGN/METHODS: Patients meeting criteria of early stage Parkinson Disease (Hoehn & Yahr I and II) and Frontotemporal Dementia were prospectively studied with the Beck Depressive Inventory (BDI-II). Patients meet criteria for Depression with a total score of 10 or more. Patients met NDD criteria when depressed mood or lack of pleasure were absent (items 1,4,12,21), and at least one psychological symptom (items 5, 9,14) and two vegetative symptoms (items 13,15,16,18,19,20) were present. RESULTS: The groups were successfully matched for age (t = 1.00, df = 72, p = .32) and gender (Chi2 = 0.22, df = 1, p = .64). PD patients (n=37) were 60 years of age on average (SD 10,3). There were 54% depressive subjects and 2.7% subjects meeting NDD criteria in this group. FTD patients (n=37) presented an average age of 69.9 years (SD 8,2). There were 48.6% depressive subjects and 18.9% subjects meeting NDD criteria in this group. 57% of NDD patients also met depression criteria for depression. The average age of NDD patients was 70.4 years versus 69.8 in non-NDD subjects. CONCLUSIONS:Approximately half of PD and FTD patients met depression criteria. Our findings showed that nondysphoric depression is more common in patients with FTD compared with PD patients.