Dementia

[Gregory Matthews]

Dementia is a word that is often bandied about today, and often by people who have little understanding as to what may be involved with it. So, I thought I would give you some background as to its background.

 Mental health workers in the United States typically go to the current edition of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) to inform on issues of mental health. Physicians in the U.S. and International clinicians commonly use the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Those books are typically revised and updated on a 10-year cycle.

 As people age, a decrease in physical function often occurs. This may, not always, be accompanied by a minor decrease in cognition. This is not dementia. Dementia is a more advanced form of a decrease in function. Dementia is believed to occur about 41% of the time in people in which a mild decrease in cognition has occurred.

 Dementia occurs in multiple forms. The following are several of the most common forms.

 Alzheimer’s Disease: is thought to occur in 60% to 80% of the people with dementia. “Aphasia is a common symptom. Issues with memory, confusion, and judgment are common. Changes take place in the brain which are not fully understood.

 Vascular Dementia: is thought to occur in 10% of the people with dementia. The etiology is thought to include changes in the vascular system in the brain to includes prior strokes.

 Lewy Body Dementia: is thought to occur in 4% of the people with dementia. It is quite similar to Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease.

 Fronto-temporal dementia: is getting recent attention as an important form of dementia. In this form, changes occur in that specific region of the brain. Those changes include, behoravial, personal and language.

 NOTE: Nothing in my comments here should be thought to imply that any individual currently in the news either has, or does not have, any form of dementia. In short, I do not engage in diagnosis from news reports.