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Frontal Lobe Syndromes

Updated: Jun 08, 2018
Author: Stephen L Nelson, Jr, MD, PhD, FAAP; Chief Editor: Jasvinder Chawla, MD, MBA more...

OVERVIEW

Epidemiology
Frequency
United States

Data are not available for the epidemiology of frontal lobe dysfunction as a clinical syndrome, but
data are available concerning the incidence and prevalence of the major causes of syndromes of
frontal lobe dysfunction. For specifics on these data, please refer to the following linked Medscape
Reference articles. Common causes (see also Causes) include the following:

Intellectual disability

Traumatic brain injury (see Classification and Complications of Traumatic Brain Injury and
Traumatic Brain Injury: Definition, Epidemiology, Pathophysiology

Brain tumors (see Brain Metastatis and EEG in Brain Tumors)

Degenerative dementias including Alzheimer disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson-
Plus Syndromes, and frontotemporal dementias

Cerebrovascular disease

Normal-pressure hydrocephalus and other hydrocephalic disorders

Psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and major depression

In addition, any neurologic or psychiatric disease that can affect the frontal lobe (eg, multiple
sclerosis, CNS lupus) may be associated with frontal lobe dysfunction.

Frontal lobe dysfunction is associated with blood alcohol level and occurs during acute
intoxication with many recreational drugs.

Sex

Traumatic brain injury is much more common in men than women both in the United States and
worldwide. Gender predominance depends on the specific underlying neurologic disorder.

Age
Age
The relative likelihood of different causes of frontal lobe dysfunction is a function of patient age. In
teenagers and young adults, the most common causes are intellectual disability, traumatic brain
injury, and drug intoxication. In middle-aged patients, brain tumors, cerebrovascular disease,
infections such as HIV, multiple sclerosis, and early onset degenerative dementias are common. In
late life, cerebrovascular disease and degenerative dementias are predominant causes of frontal
lobe dysfunction. The main degenerative dementias with frontal lobe predominance, frontotemporal
lobar degenerations, together with Alzheimer disease, are the most common degenerative
dementias in the pre-senile age (younger than 65 years).

Clinical Presentation