The researchers have called for more sophisticated diagnostic criteria and clinical record keeping to address their findings.
The study led by Ms Amira Skeggs, a clinical researcher in the School of Psychology, has been published in the Journal of Neurology. It focuses on one of three types of the disease known as behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). In February, American actor Bruce Willis announced he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
“Frontotemporal dementia refers to a set of younger-onset dementia syndromes, which are typically diagnosed before the age of 65,” Ms Skeggs said.
“Our findings suggest that current diagnostic methods might be less accurate at identifying symptoms in Australians from culturally diverse backgrounds.
“When it comes to neurodegenerative syndromes like bvFTD, culturally diverse people can have a later onset of the disease compared to monolingual Australians because they have other factors which could increase their resilience or cognitive reserve.”
Cognitive reserve is a kind of fortification that helps the brain weather progression of neurodegeneration before symptoms of mental decline emerge. This reserve is built up over an active lifetime and is influenced by a range of factors.
“There is a tendency for culturally diverse patients, particularly those who come to Australia, to have higher levels of cognitive reserve,” Ms Skeggs said.
“Multilingualism, education, working in a complex profession for a long time, all of these factors add up and make you more resilient to cognitive decline – up to a point.