Dementia Health Article

Definition

The term dementia refers to symptoms, including changes in memory, personality, and behavior, that result from a change in the functioning of the brain. These declining changes are severe enough to impair the ability of a person to perform a function or to interact socially. This operating definition encompasses 70–80 different types of dementia. They include changes due to diseases (Alzheimer's and Creutzfeld-Jakob diseases), changes due to a heart attack or repeated blows to the head (as suffered by boxers), and damage due to long-term alcohol abuse.

Dementia is not the same thing as delirium or mental retardation. Delirium is typically a brief state of mental confusion often associated with hallucinations. Mental retardation is a condition that usually dates from childhood and is characterized by impaired intellectual ability; mentally retarded individuals typically have IQ (intelligence quotient) scores below 70 or 75.

Description

The absent-mindedness and confusion about familiar settings and tasks that are hallmarks of dementia used to be considered as part of a typical aging pattern in the elderly. Indeed, dementia historically has been called senility. Dementia is now recognized not to be a normal part of aging. The symptoms of dementia can result from different causes. Some of the changes to the brain that cause dementia are treatable and can be reversed, while other changes are irreversible.

Demographics

An estimated two million people in the United States alone have severe dementia. Up to five million more people in the United States have milder forms of cognitive impairment of the dementia type. The elderly are most prone to dementia, particularly those at risk for a stroke. The historical tendency of women to live longer than men has produced a higher prevalence of dementia in older women. However, women and men are equally prone to dementia. Over age 80, more than 20% of people have at least a mild form of dementia.