Frontotemporal Dementia: Military Exposures and Disease Characteristics (FTD-MEDIC)

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a group of disorders that occur when there is a degeneration in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Unlike Alzheimer's disease, FTD usually does not involve memory impairments, instead exhibit a variety of behavioral symptoms and language problems. Clinical presentation of the disease is heterogeneous and based on the phenotype of FTD. Understanding the epidemiology of FTD and its clinical phenotypes in a population, and the risk factors associated, play an important role in the accurate diagnosis, appropriate management of, and in identifying those at risk for the disease. Our study has two main aims: first to identify the clinical phenotypes of Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) through natural language processing aided detailed medical chart reviews of post-9/11 era U.S military veterans in Veterans Health Administration care between fiscal years 2002-2015 diagnosed with FTD. Second: Evaluate if the clinical phenotypes of FTD among the post-9/11 era U.S. military veterans diagnosed with FTD vary by exposure to traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury and by occupational risk to blast injury. This knowledge is critical for the clinical care of FTD and for planning of health and preventive services as this cohort of Post-9/11 Veterans ages.