AUTHOR=Carr Andrew R. , Mendez Mario F. 

TITLE=Affective Empathy in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia: A Meta-Analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.00417

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2018.00417

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Empathy deficits are a widely recognized symptom in the behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), and although several reviews have examined cognitive empathy deficits, there are no meta-analytic studies on affective empathy deficits.</p><p><bold>Objective:</bold> Identify salience of affective empathy in bvFTD.</p><p><bold>Method:</bold> A thorough review of affective empathy found 139 possible studies, but only 10 studies included measures of affective empathy and met standardized criteria.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> BvFTD patients demonstrated a modest impairment compared to controls across all tasks (<italic>d</italic> = 0.98). Empathic concern as measured by the interpersonal reactivity index was particularly effected (<italic>d</italic> = 1.12).</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> This study provides evidence for an increased commitment to observing affective empathy in bvFTD and capturing its role in the disorder.</p>