Changes in humour ‘could be a sign of dementia’

A new study has indicated that a shift in a person's sense of humour could be an identifier of the onset of dementia.

The University of College London research examined shifting preferences in comedy genre in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), analysed via a series of questionnaires. Friends or relatives of the 48 patients were also asked to rate their loved one's liking for different kinds of comedy.

It was found that people with behavioural variant FTD – a particular form of FTD associated with behavioural changes – had an altered sense of humour compared to those with Alzheimer's disease and healthy individuals.

This included laughing at events others would not find funny such as a badly parked car or a barking dog, while the questionnaires and anecdotes also revealed that people with these types of dementia frequently laughed inappropriately at tragic events.

Friends and relatives reported seeing these changes an average at least nine years before the start of more typical dementia symptoms. 

Study leader Dr Camilla Clark at the Dementia Research Centre at University College London said: "Humour could be a particularly sensitive way of detecting dementia because it puts demands on so many different aspects of brain function, such as puzzle solving, emotion and social awareness."