How are Dementia and Alzheimers disease alike or different?
Dementia is not a disease, but rather a group of symptoms characterized by a decline in intellectual functioning severe enough to interfere with a person’s normal daily activities and social relationships. Alzheimer’s disease is but one of the many types of dementia, but is the most common cause of dementia in older persons. It is marked by progressive and, at present, irreversible declines in certain cognitive functions. These impairments may include declines in memory, time and space orientation, abstract thinking, the ability to learn and carry out mathematical calculations, language and communication skills, personality changes, impairment of judgment, and the performance of routine tasks. There are many other forms of dementia but the second most common form is vascular dementia which is caused by destruction of neurons and their connections in the brain, due to impaired blood supply or stroke. Other forms of dementia include Lewy Body dementia, fronto-temporal dementia – formerly
