Dementia

Head | Neurology | Dementia (Symptom)


Description

Dementia is a progressive organic mental disorder characterized by chronic personality disintegration, confusion, disorientation, stupor, deterioration of intellectual capacity and function, and impairment of control of memory, judgment and impulses. Impairment of cognitive function without alteration of level of consciousness.

Causes

Dementia can occur with a variety of different conditions. It is most common after the age of 60, although it can occur at earlier ages. It may be static, the result of a unique global brain injury, or progressive, resulting in long-term decline due to damage or disease in the body. Although dementia is far more common in the geriatric population, it can occur before the age of 65, in which case it is termed early onset dementia.

Symptoms of dementia can be classified as either reversible or irreversible, depending upon the etiology of the disease. Some of the most common forms of dementia are: Alzheimers disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, semantic dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. Progressive dementia can also be caused by vascular disorders such as multi-infarct dementia and by infections such as HIV and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Alzheimer disease, Pick’s disease, and other organic forms of dementia are generally considered irreversible, progressive, and incurable. However, conditions that cause the decline may be treatable or partially reversible.

The most common types of dementia are progressive. Symptoms usually consist of: confusion, loss of memory, delusions, hallucinations, gait problems, speech problems, insomnia, irritability, depression.

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