Older adults who commit minor crimes ““ petty theft or minor trespassing, for example ““ could be showing warning signs of a type of dementia, new research shows.
A study in the Jan. 5 edition of JAMA Neurology says that the behavior is usually seen in adults with a subtype of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Frontotemporal dementia affects the regions of the brain located behind the forehead and behind the ears, and it accounts for 10 to 15 percent of all dementia cases, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Older adults with Alzheimer’s disease were less likely to demonstrate “criminal” behavior, the study found; when they did, it was usually a traffic violation.
Studying crime and dementia
The study was based on records from nearly 2,400 patients seen at the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco. Included were 545 people with Alzheimer’s and 171 with the behavioral variant of FTD, where people lose their normal impulse control.
Researchers found patients with the FTD variant had the highest rate of “criminal” behavior ““ mostly minor incidents involving theft, traffic violations, trespassing and inappropriate sexual advances ““ at 37 percent.
The disease involves the region of the brain that controls speech and behavior; damage to it results in difficulty speaking as well as impulse control, which likely explains the behavioral issues, researchers said.
In contrast, only eight percent of Alzheimer’s patients demonstrated “criminal” behavior, including traffic violations and petty theft, such as stealing a pie from a grocery store.
Small sign of a bigger problem
The behaviors are often the first clue that the patient’s begun to decline cognitively, researchers said; problematic behavior was the first dementia symptom for 14 percent of the patients studied. In many cases, patients seemed otherwise ‘cognitively intact,’ said Dr. Georges Naasan, a neurologist at UCSF and one of the study authors.
FTD is more likely than Alzheimer’s to begin with behavioral and mood changes or with language difficulties, according to the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia. People with FTD may suddenly become very impulsive or have difficulty finding the right words. The disease also begins manifesting earlier than Alzheimer’s, with symptoms often starting in the 50s and 60s. There are no treatments to stop or slow the progress of the disease, but research efforts are expanding.
FTD patients show a gradual, progressive decline in behavioral and language ability. Memory itself is often preserved. The disease damages parts of the brain that control the so-called “executive functions” ““ behavior, mood, language and social interactions. In its early stages, FTD can often be misdiagnosed as a mental illness or movement disorder, according to the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia.
Subtypes of FTD include the behavioral variant, a variant that impairs language and speech and two subtypes that affect muscle control and movement.
