The following is an excerpt....
BASICS
Description
- Dementia is a decline in cognitive function potentially caused by a number of disorders:
- Alzheimer dementia (AD):
- Progressive deterioration of higher cortical functioning
- Vascular dementia (VaD):
- Usually correlated with a cerebrovascular event and/or cerebrovascular disease
- Stepwise deterioration with periods of clinical plateaus
- Lewy body dementia:
- Fluctuating cognition associated with parkinsonism, hallucinations and delusions, gait difficulties, and falls
- Frontotemporal dementia:
- Language difficulties, personality changes, and behavioral disturbances
Epidemiology
Prevalence
- In patients ≥71 years old:
- AD: 70%
- VaD: 17%
- Other: 13%
- AD 60–64 years: <1%, approximately doubles every 5 years after age 60
- Estimated 5.2 million Americans had AD in 2008:
- 5 million >65 years old; 200,000 <65 years
Risk Factors
- Increasing age
- Women > Men
- Lower educational status
- Genetic predisposition
- Head injury early in life
- Sedentary lifestyle ...
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