Neuropsychological studies have shown that patients with Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) perform worse than patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) on tests of conceptualization and verbal fluency, but better on tests of memory and visuospatial functions. However, it is not known if these distinct cognitive profiles are robust enough to be detected using a relatively brief dementia screening instrument such as the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS). To address this issue, the MDRS subscale profiles of patients with autopsy-confirmed FTD (n = 17) or AD (n = 34) were compared. Results showed distinct cognitive profiles in which FTD patients performed worse than AD patients on the Initiation/Perseveration and Conceptualization subscales while performing better on the Memory and Construction subscales. The distinct subscale profiles correctly classified 85% of AD patients and 76% of FTD patients. Profiles were maintained in a subset of mildly-to-moderately demented patients (MDRS ≥ 105) and correctly classified 89% of these patients. In addition, FTD patients (mean = 30.0 points/year) declined faster than AD patients (mean = 14.8 points/year) on MDRS total and specific subscale scores. These results suggest that the MDRS may be a useful adjunct to other clinical measures for distinguishing FTD from AD and tracking the progression of the disorder. (JINS, 2008, 14, 373–383.)

Little information exists regarding the performance of Spanish-speaking versus English-speaking patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) on the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. In an attempt to identify culturally biased MMSE items or DRS subscales, we matched Spanish-speaking Hispanic and English-speaking non-Hispanic White community-dwelling AD patients by their MMSE scores and examined specific items within each scale. Our findings indicate that Hispanic AD patients perform significantly worse than non-Hispanics in terms of total DRS score, scores on the DRS subscales for Conceptualization and Memory, and on serial subtraction (or backward spelling item) of the MMSE. While mildly to moderately demented Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients obtained comparable scores on the DRS, severely impaired Spanish-speaking participants obtained considerably lower DRS scores than their English-speaking counterparts. The discrepancy in the DRS scores of the severely impaired Hispanic and non-Hispanic examinees might reflect a cultural bias in the test or educational differences between the groups. Alternatively, the DRS may be more sensitive than the MMSE for detecting severe cognitive impairment in Hispanic patients. (JINS, 1999, 5, 301–307.)