Cognitive and behavioural impairment in Presymptomatic ALS and FTD

Neuropsychological symptoms are common in people with MND and, in some, are severe enough to meet the criteria for frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, when these cognitive and behavioural symptoms first begin, how they develop over time, and who is most at risk of developing them is not well understood. Recent evidence suggests that, for some, these manifestations may occur early in the disease, perhaps even prior to the onset of motor symptoms, representing a prodromal stage of the disease. Although there are established criteria for identifying cognitive and behavioural impairment (CI/BI) in people with diagnosed ALS, there is no uniformly agreed upon approach to identify CI/BI during the presymptomatic stage. This project aims to develop an update framework for identifying prodromal CI/BI in both ALS and FTD.