Dementia: Apathy could predict dementia years before other symptoms show up

Professor Rogier Kievit from the Donders Institute, Radboud University Medical Center at Nijmegen and MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge, said: “Apathy progresses much faster for those individuals who we know are at greater risk of developing frontotemporal dementia, and this is linked to greater atrophy in the brain.

“At the start, even though the participants with a genetic mutation felt well and had no symptoms, they were showing greater levels of apathy. The amount of apathy predicted cognitive problems in the years ahead.”

“From other research, we know that in patients with frontotemporal dementia, apathy is a bad sign in terms of independent living and survival. Here we show its importance in the decades before symptoms begin,” said Professor James Rowe from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, joint senior author.

Professor Rowe said the study highlights the importance of investigating why someone has apathy.