title: Bradycardia in frontotemporal dementia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Numerous regions of the brain, such as the medial frontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and amygdala, participate in the autonomic control of cardiovascular functions such as heart rate. The degenerative process in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) involves the listed anatomical structures and may therefore produce dysautonomic cardiovascular symptoms.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To observe whether or not non-cardiogenic bradycardia was more frequent in a group of patients with FTD than in subjects with mild cognitive impairment or dementia of a different aetiology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Once patients with primary cardiac arrhythmia were excluded, we registered the heart rates of 258 patients with cognitive symptoms (36 with FTD, 22 with Alzheimer disease, 23 with vascular dementia, 10 with other dementias, and 167 with non-dementia cognitive impairment).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bradycardia (<60 beats/minute) was significantly more frequent in patients with FTD. This difference remained significant after excluding subjects undergoing treatment with a potentially bradycardic effect. Bradycardia was more prevalent in behavioural FTD cases than in cases of the aphasic variant, and we detected a trend toward higher frequency among patients with more pronounced right hemisphere atrophy. Moreover, mean systolic blood pressure in FTD patients was lower than in other participants, and systolic hypotension (<120 and <100mm Hg) was more prevalent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bradycardia was more frequent in the FTD sample than in other patients with cognitive symptoms. Further investigations will be necessary before we may consider bradycardia to be a sign supporting diagnosis of FTD or its behavioural variant.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neurología cognitiva, Hospital La Rosaleda, Santiago de Compostela, España. Electronic address: alfredorobles@hospitalrosaleda.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Robles Bayón
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Epidemiología clínica, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Santiago de Compostela, España.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gude Sampedro
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Radiología, Hospital La Rosaleda, Santiago de Compostela, España.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Torregrosa Quesada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications; D001919:Bradycardia / Q000209:etiology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Alzheimer; Amygdala; Amígdala; Bradicardia; Bradycardia; Demencia frontotemporal; Frontotemporal dementia; Hipotensión; Hypotension; Insula; Ínsula