Basics of alzheimers disease alzheimers association. For example, a typical 80yearold woman is much more likely to develop dementia in the next five years than a typical 30yearold woman. Dementia describes a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with your daily life. Dementia is not a single condition, but a term that describes symptoms of impairment in memory, communication, and thinking. The series will then look in dept h at how nursing care can maximise the. Intermountain project echo dementia care diagnosis and.
The word dementia describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problemsolving or language. Dementia and eight types of dementia caregiver resource network. Dementia is a severe loss of thinking abilities that interferes with a persons ability to perform daily activities such as household tasks, personal care, and handling finances. Behavior changes can include fear, insecurity, anger, and often, depression like symptoms. Questionnaire npiq is a short format of test and it can assess the personss. This can help limit the complications you experience or make your symptoms.
These changes are often small to start with, but for someone with dementia they have become severe enough to affect daily life. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioningthinking, remembering, and reasoningand behavioral abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a persons daily life and activities. Allen phd, anpbc assistant professor college of nursing cognitive disorders clinic. Alzheimers is the most common type of dementia, but there are many kinds. Detailed information about dementia risk factors is available at yourbrainmatters. It happens when the parts of the brain used for learning, memory, decision making, and language are damaged or diseased. Dementia has many possible causes, including stroke, brain tumor, depression, and vitamin deficiency, as well as disorders. Although known genetic changes that cause alzheimers disease are rare, the. Though dementia generally involves memory loss, memory loss has different causes. Understanding alzheimers and dementia alzheimers association. A person with dementia may also experience changes in their mood or behaviour. Alzheimer s is the most common cause of dementia among older adults. Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia. That includes 11 percent of those age 65 and older and onethird of those 85 and older.
A risk factor is anything that increases a persons risk of developing a. Intermountain project echo dementia care diagnosis and etiology of dementia nancy a. Dementia is caused by various diseases and conditions that result in damaged brain cells. Dementia is a progressive condition, so preventive treatment or consistent treatment of causes and symptoms is important. Dementia types symptoms, diagnosis, causes, treatments. Alzheimers accounts for 60 to 80 percent of all dementia cases. There are many other rarer causes of dementia, including progressive. There are many possible causes of dementia, including alzheimers. It isnt a specific disease, but several different diseases may cause dementia. Alzheimers disease and other types of dementia alzheimers disease more than 5 million americans have alzheimers disease, the most common form of dementia. Dementia causes problems with thinking, memory, and reasoning.