Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29621927›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences2018

Skin Conduction Levels Differentiate Frontotemporal Dementia From Alzheimer's Disease.

Mario F Mendez, Sylvia S Fong, Mark M Ashla, Elvira E Jimenez, Andrew R Carr

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 40% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Stress, stress systems, and Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Autonomic dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Mario F MendezFrom the Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles (MFM, SSF, MMA, EEJ, ARC); and the Neurobehavior Unit, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (MFM, EEJ).
Sylvia S FongFrom the Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles (MFM, SSF, MMA, EEJ, ARC); and the Neurobehavior Unit, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (MFM, EEJ).
Mark M AshlaFrom the Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles (MFM, SSF, MMA, EEJ, ARC); and the Neurobehavior Unit, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (MFM, EEJ).
Elvira E JimenezFrom the Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles (MFM, SSF, MMA, EEJ, ARC); and the Neurobehavior Unit, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (MFM, EEJ).
Andrew R CarrFrom the Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles (MFM, SSF, MMA, EEJ, ARC); and the Neurobehavior Unit, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (MFM, EEJ).
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System · US

Funding

Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Phenotypes: Neuropsychology and Neural NetworksRF1AG050967 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI MENDEZ, MARIO F. · 2016 to 2016
$1.9M
Multidisciplinary Study of Social Behavior and Emotion in Frontotemporal DementiaR01AG034499 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI MENDEZ, MARIO F. · 2009 to 2013
$1.9M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG034499NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG050967
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) differ in basic emotional tone. Skin conduction levels (SCLs), a measure of sympathetic tone, may be a sensitive test for discriminating these two dementias early in their course. Previous research has shown differences in resting SCLs between patients with bvFTD and AD, but no study has evaluated the discriminability of SCLs during different environmental conditions. The authors compared bvFTD patients (N=8), AD patients (N=10), and healthy control subjects (N=9) on SCL measures pertaining to real-life vignettes or scenarios differing in valence and emotional intensity. The SCLs among the bvFTD patients were decreased across all conditions, whereas the SCLs among the AD patients were increased compared with control participants. On analysis, the SCLs in response to emotional stimuli differentiated bvFTD from AD with an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 95.3%. At a cutoff ≤0.77 μS, emotional vignettes distinguished bvFTD from AD with a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 96%. These preliminary results indicate the potential utility of SCLs for differentiating bvFTD from AD early in their course, regardless of environmental condition.

Indexed as

Galvanic Skin ResponseAlzheimer DiseaseDiagnosis, DifferentialEmotionsFemaleFrontotemporal DementiaHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeuropsychological TestsPsychophysicsSensitivity and SpecificityAlzheimer-s DiseaseCognitive DisordersDementiaDiagnosis and Classification in Neuropsychiatry

Identifiers

PMID29621927
PMCPMC6081247
OpenAlexW2795843817

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.