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A type of dementia that often affects younger people is more prevalent in one group than originally thought, a new study has suggested.
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a group of rare and progressive brain diseases which damage the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, usually affecting people between the ages of 45 and 64.
Rather than the memory loss that comes from other types of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease, FTD affects a person's behavior, movement and ability to speak and understand others.
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The symptoms of FTD vary by type, but may include apathy, inappropriate social behaviors, a loss of executive function and empathy, and a loss of language and movement skills, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Researchers now believe that Hispanic populations in America, who have previously been underrepresented in FTD research, may in fact present with more symptoms and a higher cognitive impairment at diagnosis, with diagnostic delays averaging four years from symptom onset.
Hispanic populations generally experience higher dementia rates, but researchers have now concluded that healthcare access differences when it comes to FTD are due to education disparities.
Senior author of the study, A. Campbell Sullivan, PsyD, ABPP-CN, clinical associate professor of neurology with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio, told Newsweek that their study "helps document that FTD does occur in Hispanic patients, despite their very limited representation in the existing research."
"We found that Hispanic and non-Hispanic White patients looked more similar than different on detailed cognitive testing, although Hispanic patients had more motor symptoms and often experienced long delays before reaching specialty care," Sullivan said.
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Sullivan said in a statement in EurekAlert! that the study dispels assumptions that FTD doesn't occur in Hispanic populations, and that instead, significant barriers have delayed timely and accurate diagnoses, and contributed to the under-recognition of FTD for them.
The study, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, is led by researchers at UT Health San Antonio.
Results of the study suggest that Hispanics were more likely to exhibit changes in movement-related symptoms, while non-Hispanic white patients were more likely to experience the behavioral changes. There were no significant differences in neuropsychological results between the two cohorts.
It looked at participants diagnosed with FTD from the FTD Center at the Biggs Institute, the South Texas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (STAC) and a cohort of the Advancing Research and Treatment for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration/Longitudinal Evaluation of Familial Frontotemporal Dementia Subjects (ALLFTD), totaling 17 Hispanic and 22 non-Hispanic white patients.
It also used 24 Hispanic and 407 non-Hispanic white representatives from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center.
There were barriers to timely diagnoses in the Hispanic populations in the STAC/ALLFTD cohort, the study found, including late presentation to specialty care, often after years of progressive symptoms. These symptoms may have been misattributed to psychiatric conditions.
Neurodegenerative syndromes were also under-recognized, and patients were often only referred to neurology after significant impairments in communication, behavior and cognition.
Limited access to appropriate specialists, potential biases in clinical interpretation and diagnosis, and cultural and linguistic factors influence help-seeking behaviors, the study suggests. This may be a large part of the challenge in identifying and diagnosing neurodegenerative disease in Hispanic populations.
Sullivan told Newsweek that their next step is to "build larger, more representative cohorts through our ADRC and ALLFTD studies and follow patients over time."
"That will allow us to better understand whether the differences we observed reflect FTD subtype, referral patterns, delayed diagnosis, or other factors, and ultimately help us improve earlier recognition and diagnosis," she said.
Reference
Lavigne SB, Hromas G, LaRoche A, et al. Frontotemporal dementia in Hispanic populations: Regional and national comparisons. Alzheimer's Dement. 2026; 18:e70396. https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.70396
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and Emma Lee-Sang
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