Relationship Turmoil and Emotional Empathy in Frontotemporal Dementia

BACKGROUND: Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is characterized by marked deficits in empathy and social behavior; however, the effect of these symptoms on partner relationships has not been quantitatively measured. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the effect of empathy loss and behavioral symptoms on partner and familial relationship status in bvFTD. We ascertained whether patients were currently in marriage/partner relationships or were separated/divorced, the timing and duration of these relationships, and whether the patients had relationship infidelity. We investigated the relationship status of 483 patients (156 with bvFTD, 38 with nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia, 72 with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, 49 with corticobasal syndrome, 45 with progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome, and 123 with Alzheimer disease) over the course of follow-up, and correlated relationship status with patients' first visit Interpersonal Reactivity Index and Neuropsychiatric Inventory. RESULTS: Relationship dissolution and infidelity were significantly more frequent among patients with bvFTD than in the other groups. Across all patients, empathy loss was associated with relationship dissolution. In the bvFTD group, patients who experienced relationship dissolution or infidelity had significantly lower empathy than those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in relationship status differed across dementia groups and were associated with empathy decline.