title: Survival in a German population with frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present study aimed at analysing survival of patients with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), semantic dementia (SD) and progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA). Furthermore, the objective of the study was to identify prognostic factors associated with survival and to examine causes of death.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interviews were performed with the proxies of 124 patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survival from the onset of first symptoms was significantly longer in SD than in bvFTD (10.5 years). Median survival in PNFA was 12.6 years. Age at onset, gender, education and severity of dementia at diagnosis did not significantly influence survival. We did not identify any phenocopy cases. The most frequent cause of death as reported by caregivers was respiratory system disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study adds to the growing literature on survival in patients with FTLD and provides insights into the causes of death.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Technische Universität München, München, Germany.
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: Nunnemann
authors: Dirk
authors: D
authors: Last
authors: Tibor
authors: T
authors: Schuster
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Förstl
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Kurz
authors: Janine
authors: J
authors: Diehl-Schmid
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000401:mortality*; D057174:Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration / Q000401:mortality*; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057178:Primary Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies