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Dementia is a loss of mental functions severe enough to affect daily life:
memory, language skills, visual perception (making sense of what you see),
problem solving, everyday tasks, and **the ability to focus and pay
attention**.
**It is normal to become a bit more forgetful as you age. Dementia is not a
normal part of ageing.** It is a serious disorder that interferes with daily
life, and treating it as an inevitable consequence of getting old is the most
common mistake made about it.
The types, and what distinguishes them
Most common are the neurodegenerative disorders, in which brain cells stop
working or die:
| Type | The distinguishing feature |
|---|---|
| Alzheimer's disease | The most common form in older people. Plaques of beta-amyloid protein between brain cells, tangles of tau protein inside nerve cells, and lost connections between nerve cells |
| Lewy body dementia | Movement symptoms alongside the dementia. Lewy bodies are abnormal protein deposits in the brain |
| Frontotemporal disorders | Changes in the frontal lobe produce behavioural symptoms; changes in the temporal lobe produce language and emotional disorders |
| Vascular dementia | Changes to the brain's blood supply, often from a stroke or atherosclerosis in the brain |
| Mixed dementia | Two or more at once — commonly Alzheimer's and vascular dementia together |
Other conditions cause dementia or dementia-like symptoms: **Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease**, Huntington's disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy from
repeated traumatic brain injury, and HIV-associated dementia.
Risk
Ageing is the biggest risk factor — which is not the same as saying
dementia is part of ageing. Also: smoking, uncontrolled diabetes, high blood
pressure, drinking too much alcohol, and close family members with dementia.
Four of those six are modifiable.
Symptoms
They vary depending on which parts of the brain are affected. **Often
forgetfulness is the first symptom**, alongside problems with thinking,
problem solving and reasoning. People with dementia may:
- Get lost in a familiar neighbourhood
- Use unusual words for familiar objects
- Forget the name of a close family member or friend
- Forget old memories
- Need help with tasks they used to do alone
Some cannot control their emotions, and personalities may change. They may
become apathetic — no longer interested in normal activities — or **lose
their inhibitions and stop caring about other people's feelings**. Certain
types also cause problems with balance and movement.
Stages range from mild, where it is just beginning to affect functioning,
to severe, where the person is completely dependent on others for care.
Diagnosis and treatment
Diagnosis uses a medical history, a physical exam, **tests of thinking, memory
and language**, blood tests, genetic tests and brain scans, and a **mental
health evaluation** to see whether a mental disorder is contributing.
There is no cure for most types, including Alzheimer's and Lewy body
dementia. Treatments may maintain mental function longer, manage behavioural
symptoms and slow the disease. **Medicines may temporarily improve memory and
thinking, or slow their decline — and they only work in some people.**
Source: MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Licens: CC0 1.0 (allmän egendom) · Bearbetat efter medlineplus.gov
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