DIFFERENTIATING ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE AND FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA - RECEIVER OPERATOR CHARACTERISTIC CURVE ANALYSIS OF 4 RATING-SCALES

Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia are two of the most co mmon types of degenerative dementia. In conjunction with a complete ne uropsychiatric examination, the Executive Interview(C), Mini-Mental St ate Exam, Alzheimer's Disease Scale, Pick's Disease Scale and the Info rmant-Based Questionnaire have been used to distinguish between these two disorders on clinical grounds. In a review of two studies, scores from these rating scales are subjected to receiver operator characteri stic curve analysis to determine the cut-off value for each scale whic h yields the highest sensitivity and specificity with regard to differ entiating between Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Fin ally, the Informant-Based Questionnaire is discussed and compared to e ach rating scale to demonstrate the important features and limitations of each.