Dementia is the progressive memory loss with difficulty in attention, thinking and comprehension of changes in mood, personality, judgment and social behavior.
Dementia refers to the progressive cognitive impairment in clear consciousness, manifested by both memory impairment and impairment in language, praxis, gnosis, and executive functioning.
Age is the primary risk factor for Dementia, hence prevalence increases with age. After 85years it goes up to 50% approximately.
Only memory impairment is not the symptoms of Dementia. It constitutes only one part. Apart from memory dysfunction, patients may have problems in language, executive functioning, decision making, performing day to day activities, and incontinence, behavior and personality changes. In short Dementia is global impairment of all cognitive functions.
No. Normal forgetting is common phenomenon which increases with age which is called as senility. However Dementia is more pathological and severe than normal forgetting and is associated with prominent behavior and personality change along with cognitive impairment.
No. As mentioned above it is a progressive neurological condition and treatment can slow down the speed of progression but cannot cure it.
Dementia has multiple causative factors. Any insult to the brain in any form can give rise to dementia. Most common causes are degeneration, trauma, drugs and toxins, other Central Nervous System disorders, infections, tumors etc.
There are many subtypes of Dementia. However the clinical presentation in all remains almost the same with some differences. Alzheimer’s disease is most common type then Vascular Dementia and Fronto Temporal Dementia are the next common varieties.
Medical management plays a major role in Dementia. Anti-dementic drugs are used to improve memory function. Other area which requires more attention is behavioral disturbances which can be managed cautiously with help of mood stabilizers and anti-psychotic medications.
It does play a major role. As care giving in Dementia is tedious job and in current scenario of nuclear families where all the members are working care giving for such patients become more difficult. Secondly patients with moderate and severe dementia mostly require institutional care. Rehabilitation in Dementia focuses on improving reality orientation and nursing care.
There is huge care giver burden in Dementia. Subjective burden refers to psychological trauma on care givers due to care giving process. Objective burden refers to monetary loss and lost work days.