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Changes in cognitive functioning that were considered a natural part of the aging process were defined as dementia (also known as senile dementia) in the past. Nowadays, memory disorders and other manifestations of senile dementia are no longer considered naturally occurring phenomena, but rather they are treated as symptoms of one of the distinguished dementia disorders. But how do you know if a person has just developed dementia, what are the causes of it, and what treatment can be given once it is diagnosed?

Dementia( senile dementia , dementia or senile dementia) is a unit in which patients develop deficits in several areas of functioning, which are memory, the ability to focus attention and make decisions, and communicate with the environment.

The term senile dementia was somehow taken from the views existing in the past that with age, memory disorders, difficulties in performing complex activities or independent functioning in general occur naturally. Currently, the views are completely different - it is pointed out that the symptoms of dementia are not directly related to old age itself and when they are of high intensity, it comes from the occurrence of an elderly person with a dementia disorder.

Dementia is a fairly common problem, and it has been suggested that its prevalence in the human population will increase over time. Currently, WHO reports that 50 million people worldwide suffer from senile dementia, but the organization estimates that in 2030 the number of the sick is to reach over 80 million, and in 2050 - even over 150 million.

Dementia: causes

There are quite a few causes of senile dementia - the most common among individuals that can lead to dementia are:

  • Alzheimer's disease (the most common cause of dementia)
  • dementia with Lewy bodies
  • vascular dementia
  • frontotemporal dementia
  • mixed dementia (in which the features of Alzheimer's dementia coexist with features of vascular dementia)

Amongless common causes of dementia can be listed, in turn, among others :

  • Parkinson's disease,
  • normotensive hydrocephalus,
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
  • and syphilis of the central nervous system.

It is also worth mentioning here that dementia also has reversible causes - here, examples include:

  • vitamin B12 deficiency
  • hypothyroidism
  • Lyme disease
  • depressive disorder
  • central nervous system tumors

Dementia: risk factors

The main risk factor for senile dementia is age - because the older a person gets, the greater the risk of developing some symptoms of dementia. However, there are also other factors that may contribute to senile dementia - the most frequently mentioned in this case are:

  • smoking
  • consuming excessive amounts of alcohol
  • hypertension (especially untreated or under-treated)
  • unhe althy diet
  • lipid disorders
  • avoiding exercise
  • overweight and obesity

Dementia: Symptoms

Age-related dementia is usually a progressive process in which the patient gradually develops more and more ailments. Initially, the symptoms of dementia may not attract much attention from those around you and may include:

  • fresh memory disorders (e.g. the patient may ask the same question several times despite the fact that he has already received an answer to it)
  • difficulties with acquiring new information
  • feeling of alienation in places well-known to the patient
  • word forgetting
  • progressive loss of interest and apathy

However, the symptoms of dementia later become more pronounced, which may be:

  • feeling lost even in your own home
  • forgetting almost all new information, but even difficulties remembering the names of loved ones
  • increasing difficulties in communicating with other people
  • behavioral changes, including on the more and more frequent appearance of irritability or even aggression

In the late stages of senile dementia, people affected by this problem become incapable of independent existence - they experience:

  • difficulty remembering anything (it may even include recognizing immediate family members)
  • significant confusion (patient may not know where he is or what the current date is)
  • difficulties with undertaking various physical activities (such as eating with cutlery, but also walking)
  • aggravating behavioral disorders

It should be emphasized here that there is no one specific pattern of dementia symptoms - depending on its cause, patients may suffer from various ailments. For example, in patients with Alzheimer's disease, memory impairment is the most pronounced, while in frontotemporal dementia its main symptoms are behavioral changes and difficulties in communicating with the environment.

Dementia: recognizing

Tools that are used as screening tests in the diagnosis of dementia are the MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) test and the clock drawing test.

The first of these primarily consists of a series of questions. After the examination, the points obtained by the patient are added up - when the MMSE result is below 24, it may indicate the existence of dementia in the examined person and this suggests the need for more detailed diagnosis.

The clock drawing test consists in the fact that the patient is asked to draw a clock face on a piece of paper, put the numbers corresponding to the following hours on it, and finally mark the hour on the clock that the examiner will ask for. Many factors are important in this case, because both the shape of the dial and the location of the digits on it, as well as how the subject marks the hour.

Additional tests are usually ordered when screening tests and their results suggest that you may have dementia. First of all, in this case, analyzes should be performed to confirm or exclude the existence of any pathologies in the patient that are reversible causes of dementia.

For this purpose, may be ordered, inter alia, laboratory tests (e.g. determination of blood levels of thyroid hormones or vitamin B12).

Imaging tests of the head, such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, are also important in the diagnosis of dementia - they allow not only to detect other reversible causes of dementia (such as brain tumors), but also to identify deviations characteristic of other the causes of these pathologies (as an example here, frontotemporal dementia, where in imaging examinations atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain may be noticeable).

Typically, a suspected dementia patient goes to a neurologist, but the truth is that sometimes he or she should be consulted by other specialists as well. This need arises from the fact that inAfter all, not only neurological entities, but also those of interest to other speci alties, can result in senile dementia. An example would be a psychiatric problem which is depression, which may also develop symptoms of dementia.

Dementia: treatment

A thorough diagnosis of suspected dementia is important primarily because the treatment of senile dementia varies greatly depending on what exactly is responsible for its occurrence.

Sometimes it turns out that the correction of the abnormalities in the patient results in the remission of dementia - this is the case in patients with hypothyroidism or vitamin B12 deficiency, in whom supplementation and compensation for the deficiency of the missing substances may lead to the disappearance of the symptoms of dementia.

Sometimes surgical treatment is used - this is the case in people with Hakim's syndrome, in whom the use of a ventricular valve that drains excess cerebrospinal fluid from the inside of the skull may lead to - at least partially - disappearance of the symptoms of this disease.

In the case of the most common forms of dementia - e.g. in Alzheimer's disease - pharmacological treatment is used. In the disease mentioned above, patients are recommended to use drugs from the group of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which may improve their condition by increasing the amount of one of the neurotransmitters - acetylcholine in the central nervous system.

It should be emphasized, however, that this type of treatment does not reverse existing changes and disorders, but only slows down the pace of disease progression. For this reason, it is so important that a patient suspected of having senile dementia should see a doctor as soon as possible. The earlier the treatment is started, the greater the chances that the patient will be able to function independently for as long as possible.

How to ask family and people around you to care for the sick person?

Dementia: prevention

It is simply impossible to completely prevent dementia - we cannot even do anything about the basic risk factor for its occurrence, which is advanced age. However, it is emphasized that leading a generally understood he althy lifestyle may minimize our chances of developing senile dementia.

It is important in this case to avoid stimulants such as cigarettes or large amounts of alcohol. Eating an appropriate, balanced diet to provide all of us can also reduce the risk of senile dementianecessary nutrients and regular physical activity.

It is worth maintaining a proper, optimal body weight. It is also often mentioned that regular "intellectual effort" - such as reading books or solving crosswords - can also reduce the risk of senile dementia in some way.

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See the gallery of 6 photosAbout the authorBow. Tomasz NęckiA graduate of medicine at the Medical University of Poznań. An admirer of the Polish sea (most willingly strolling along its shores with headphones in his ears), cats and books. In working with patients, he focuses on always listening to them and spending as much time as they need.

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Neurology