Assessing the Big Five personality traits in presymptomatic and symptomatic C9orf72-related frontotemporal dementia using the Dutch Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5-NL)

Background: 

C9orf72 is one of the leading causes of genetic FTD. Although neuropsychiatric symptoms are considered a distinctive hallmark, no studies into maladaptive premorbid personality traits have been performed in C9orf72-FTD thus far. 

Methods: 

We investigated differences in self-reported and informant-reported brief version of the Dutch Personality Inventory for the DSM (PID-5-NL) in symptomatic (n = 7) and presymptomatic C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers (C9orf72-REC) (n = 27), and controls (n = 18). We also explored relationships with cognitive performance and neuropsychiatric questionnaires (BDI-II-NL and NPI-Q). 

Results:

Informants of symptomatic C9orf72-REC reported higher total, Disinhibition and Psychoticism scores on the PID-5-NL than presymptomatic C9orf72-REC and controls. No significant differences were found between presymptomatic C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers and controls. There were no significant correlations between the Mini-Mental State Examination and Frontal Assessment Battery total scores and the PID-5-NL scores. In presymptomatic C9orf72-REC, PID-5-BF-NL total, Negative Affect, and Antagonism scores correlated with the BDI-II-NL. PID-5-IBF-NL total and Negative Affect, Antagonism, and Disinhibition scores correlated with the NPI-Q, Disinhibition correlated with the Frontal-Behavioural cluster, and Negative Affect, Antagonism, and Disinhibition correlated with the Mood and Psychotic clusters. 

Conclusion: 

Our findings suggests that the PID-5-BF-NL offers a valuable insight into the presence of maladaptive premorbid personality traits in the symptomatic phase of C9orf72-FTD.