Dementia vs. Alzheimer's Disease: What is the Difference? Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, while Alzheimer's is a specific disease. Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia.
Early signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia
Memory impairment, such as difficulty remembering events. Difficulty concentrating, planning or problem-solving. Problems finishing daily tasks at home or at work, such as writing or using eating utensils. Confusion with location or passage of time.
Overall, know that Alzheimer's disease is a specific disease, while dementia is a general term for a group of similar diseases, of which Alzheimer's is one. In other words, every case of Alzheimer's disease is an example of dementia, but not every type of dementia is Alzheimer's.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease causes a type of dementia that gets worse unusually fast. More common causes of dementia, such as Alzheimer's, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, typically progress more slowly. Through a process scientists don't yet understand, misfolded prion protein destroys brain cells.
Alzheimer's disease – around eight to 10 years. Life expectancy is less if the person is diagnosed in their 80s or 90s. A few people with Alzheimer's live for longer, sometimes for 15 or even 20 years. Vascular dementia – around five years.
Many people affected by dementia are concerned that they may inherit or pass on dementia. The majority of dementia is not inherited by children and grandchildren. In rarer types of dementia there may be a strong genetic link, but these are only a tiny proportion of overall cases of dementia.
On average, a person with Alzheimer's lives four to eight years after diagnosis, but can live as long as 20 years, depending on other factors.
Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
Don't correct, contradict, blame or insist. Reminders are rarely kind. They tell a person how disabled they are – over and over again. People living with dementia say and do normal things for someone with memory impairment.
Is Alzheimer's passed on by mother or father? Alzheimer's is not passed on by the mother more than the father, or vice versa. A mother or father may pass on an “Alzheimer's gene” or mutation that increases your risk. Even if both your parents pass on a risk gene, your Alzheimer's risk is higher, but not certain.
The five-minute cognitive test (FCT) was designed to capture deficits in five domains of cognitive abilities, including episodic memory, language fluency, time orientation, visuospatial function, and executive function.
Many dementia patients are not aware of their condition. Memory loss and a loss of cognitive abilities are fundamental symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, which makes it extremely difficult for sufferers to realize that they are having problems, or to understand their condition.
While there is no conclusive evidence that we can prevent the development of dementia, there is a general acknowledgement that there are some areas where poor lifestyle choices may increase the risk of developing dementia (that is, a poor diet, smoking, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, lack of exercise, and not ...
Although there is no effective treatment or proven prevention for Alzheimer's and related dementias, in general, leading a healthy lifestyle may help address risk factors that have been associated with these diseases.
We all inherit a copy of some form of APOE from each parent. Those who inherit one copy of APOE-e4 from their mother or father have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's. Those who inherit two copies from their mother and father have an even higher risk, but not a certainty.
One of the most common causes of death for people with dementia is pneumonia caused by an infection. A person in the later stages of dementia may have symptoms that suggest that they are close to death, but can sometimes live with these symptoms for many months.
I'm going to discuss five of the most basic ones here: 1) Don't tell them they are wrong about something, 2) Don't argue with them, 3) Don't ask if they remember something, 4) Don't remind them that their spouse, parent or other loved one is dead, and 5) Don't bring up topics that may upset them.
One of the major signs of end-stage dementia are behavioral changes, like a person's inability to respond to their environment. Additional signs of end-stage dementia behavioral changes include: The need to sleep more. Having a decreased appetite.
Some of the more common triggers for dementia like a change in environment, having personal space invaded, or being emotionally overwhelmed may be easier to handle if you mentally practice your response before you react.
Patient assessment tools:
The GPCOG is a screening tool for cognitive impairment designed for use in primary care and is available in multiple languages. Mini-Cog - The Mini-Cog is a 3-minute test consisting of a recall test for memory and a scored clock-drawing test.