Who is affected by early dementia and how to avoid it? Types of dementia and causes of occurrence The nature of agnosia in organic dementia is determined.

The percentage of the population suffering from a diagnosis of dementia is growing every year. To date, 47.5 million cases have been officially registered. By 2050, the number of patients is projected to actually triple.

Not only people who have been diagnosed with this disease suffer from the manifestations of the disease, but also those close to them who care for them around the clock.

Understanding what kind of disease is dementia. And how to resist it.

Dementia: Description of the disease

In the course of the disease, changes in all higher cognitive functions are noted:

• memory;
• thinking;
• attention;
• ability to navigate in space;
• assimilation of new information.

Degradation in dementia is observed to a greater extent than in normal aging.

• irritability;
• depression states;
• increased anxiety;
• social maladaptation;
• decrease in the level of self-esteem;
• lack of motivation;
• indifference to what is happening around.

For reference!
In most cases, dementia triggers irreversible processes. But if the cause of the disease is established in time and eliminated, then the treatment will give positive results and delay the onset of the severe stage.

Dementia in the elderly

The largest percentage of patients with this diagnosis are elderly people. This category includes women and men in the age group from 65 to 74 years.

The term “presenile dementia” or “presenile dementia”, that is, presenile dementia, is used to refer to the representatives of this sample. In most cases, the causes of deviations in the elderly are violations of the vascular system and atrophic processes occurring in brain cells.

Senile dementia or senile dementia refers to the generation over 75 years of age. Dementia is quite common for this age. mixed type, where several factors that caused the disease are combined. A disease of mixed genesis is quite difficult to treat. This is due to the comorbidity of pathologies.

According to the statistics of age-related dementia, women are more susceptible. This observation is associated with a longer life expectancy. And also an important role is played by the hormonal characteristics of women of advanced age.

The clinical picture of dementia in the elderly depends on:

• from the state of the body to the onset of the manifestation of primary symptoms;
• from the factors that caused the disease;
• on the intensity of development of deviations.

Alcohol abuse leads to the failure of all body systems. Although European scientists have concluded that moderate consumption of natural wine in the amount of 300 grams per week reduces the risk of developing dementia.

Treatment

• slowing down the process of cell death;
• withdrawal of symptoms;
• psychological assistance in adaptation;
• prolongation of life with a diagnosis.

• improve the state of memory, thinking, attention, ability to navigate in space;
• minimize the manifestation of disorders in the behavior of the patient;
• improve the quality of life.

• drug therapy;
• treatment at the physical level (the use of gymnastics, occupational therapy, massage sessions, taking therapeutic baths, classes with a speech therapist);
• socio- and psychotherapy (work with a psychologist, both the patient and the people who care for him, counseling on providing proper care, as well as working with cognitive functions).

1. neurotrophics (improve brain nutrition);
2. neuroprotectors (slow down atrophic processes);
3. antidepressants.

Close people are advised to ensure that the patient adheres to a clear daily routine, allocating time daily for training mental activity, moderate physical activity and quality rest. Desirable physical activity(walking, exercising, swimming) to do with the patient. When keeping company, you can give prompts in time, as well as provide a good mood and give a feeling of acceptance and support.

Particular attention should be paid to the nutrition of the patient. The diet must be replenished with products that lead to lower cholesterol levels in the body:

• various types of nuts;
• legumes;
• barley;
• avocado;
• blueberry;
• vegetable oils.

• seafood;
• lean meats;
• sauerkraut;
• dairy products.

It is better to serve boiled or steamed dishes. Avoid salt as much as possible. It is important to give the patient to drink about one and a half liters clean water in a day.

Living with a diagnosis

Dementia requires ongoing treatment. Therefore, close people of the patient need to be patient and help in everything. It is important to protect him from stressful situations and provide proper care.

The term "dementia" in medicine is used to denote acquired dementia, characterized by a violation of the basic mental functions of a person: thinking, intelligence, attention, memory, and others. The disease usually progresses slowly, but in some cases it occurs very quickly. The rapid development of pathology is observed, as a rule, with craniocerebral injuries or intoxication, in which brain cells die in a short period of time.

With dementia, a person loses the ability to know the world, loses previously acquired skills, does not show emotions, forgets events that occurred recently, while the patient is not aware of what is happening to him. Violations are usually so pronounced that a person cannot exercise his professional activity and experiencing serious difficulties in daily life. Many people whose relatives are faced with this pathology are wondering how many years patients with dementia live. It is very difficult to give a definite answer, as it all depends on many factors. If a person receives necessary care and supportive care, it can last for many years. You should also consider how quickly dementia develops, and what causes it was caused.

According to statistics, dementia is most often diagnosed in older people over the age of sixty. In patients over the age of eighty, the disease is diagnosed in approximately 80% of cases.

Reasons for the development of the disease

Dementia develops as a result of severe damage to the central nervous system of an organic nature, therefore, any pathological conditions leading to degenerative changes and death of cellular structures of the cerebral cortex. Considering the most probable causes of this, it is first necessary to single out those specific types of acquired dementia in which the destruction of the cerebral cortex acts as an independent mechanism of pathology. In this case, we are talking about Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, etc. Such pathologies are most often diagnosed in patients over the age of sixty-five years.

In other cases, dementia occurs with a secondary lesion of the human brain. Often this pathology acts as a complication of trauma, infectious lesions, vascular diseases occurring in chronic form exposure to various toxic substances. Most often, secondary organic brain damage occurs with vascular pathologies, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, etc.

It is possible that dementia can develop due to the abuse of alcohol and drugs, with tumors in the brain. Quite rarely, infections contribute to the development of the disease: meningitis, viral encephalitis, AIDS, neurosyphilis and others.

It is extremely difficult to say how many reasons there are that contribute to one degree or another to the development of acquired dementia. In some cases, dementia becomes a complication of hemodialysis, severe hepatic or kidney failure, certain endocrinological and autoimmune diseases. In most cases, the disease occurs as a result of exposure to several provoking factors at once. A typical example of such a disorder is the so-called senile (senile) dementia.

It is worth noting that the risk of developing acquired dementia increases with age. Based on data medical statistics, then among people under the age of sixty, the percentage of patients with dementia is extremely small, while among older people older than seventy to eighty years this indicator reaches 75-80%.

Classification

In modern clinical practice dementia is divided into the following functional and anatomical forms:

Dementia can occur in lacunar or total form. In the first case, the patient has localized lesions of those structures that are responsible for the function of the intellect. In this case, serious violations of short-term memory are usually observed, and minor asthenic manifestations may also occur.

If there is a complete destruction of the core of the personality, we are talking about total dementia. In such patients, there is not only a deterioration in memory and intelligence, but also serious disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere. If the disease develops over several years, then the patient may completely lose his previously characteristic interests, spiritual values. The person becomes completely socially maladapted.

Clinical picture

Depending on the stage of dementia, its symptoms can be quite variable. This disease is characterized by a violation of all cognitive functions of a person. Behavioral and personality disorders can form at any stage of the disease, as well as motor dysfunctions and other deficiency syndromes.

The most rapid development is usually characterized by vascular dementia, while, for example, in Alzheimer's disease, the pathology progresses at a slow pace. as temporary clinical manifestations many patients have various psychoses characterized by manic, depressive, paranoid states.

Dementia on early stage may result in impaired memory function. The patient is not able to remember and understand new information, there may be speech disorders associated with difficulties in choosing words. Personality disorders and mood swings are also quite common early in the development of acquired dementia. Quite often, patients have progressive difficulties with the performance of their usual daily activities. It becomes difficult for them to find their way home, remember where they live, and so on. loss of independence often leads to outbreaks of aggression and depressive disorders.

Other symptoms that characterize incipient dementia include apraxia, agnosia, and aphasia. Often early signs diseases are noticed by close people of a sick person, complaining about his strange behavior and emotional instability.

At an intermediate stage in the development of pathology, patients are almost completely deprived of the ability to learn. Their memory does not disappear completely, but is significantly reduced, especially for those events that occurred relatively long ago, for example, a couple of years ago. It becomes more and more difficult for patients to take care of themselves: dress, wash, etc. At the same time, personal changes also progress: irritability appears, sometimes accompanied by outbursts of aggression, or complete passivity occurs with a lack of emotional manifestations and signs of depression.

Dementia at this stage of its development often leads to the fact that the patient loses an adequate sense of space and time. A person finds it difficult to answer elementary questions, for example, how old is he, he can get lost in his own apartment, they confuse day with night. Such disorders can eventually transform into psychosis, accompanied by hallucinations, mania and depression.

In the severe stage of the disease, patients lose the ability to move independently. Often the disease at this stage is accompanied by urinary incontinence, total absence memory. The patient can forget how to eat and drink independently. These patients are at a very high risk of developing pressure sores and pneumonia. Often, patients are placed in specialized medical facilities to ensure proper care.

Diagnostics

With cognitive impairment and suspected dementia, a comprehensive examination of the patient is necessary. As a rule, at the very beginning of the development of the disease, few people pay attention to minor changes, and therefore dementia is often diagnosed already at a fairly advanced stage. Relatives need to be careful and consult a doctor if a loved one for some reason began to confuse words, forget recent events, became uncommunicative and irritable.

To identify the disease, specialists use special psychometric tests. An examination by a neurologist and an ophthalmologist is mandatory. In order to exclude infectious and metabolic diseases, a number of laboratory tests. This usually includes a blood test for sugar levels, a hormonal analysis of blood serum, and other studies.

During neurological examination in patients with dementia, a slowdown in psychomotor functions is detected. The patient may expend a lot of effort, but not give correct answers. As one of the most informative tests for detecting acquired dementia, doctors often suggest that patients evaluate their short-term memory. If you put three or four objects in front of the patient, and then remove them and ask them to name after a few minutes, if you have dementia, the person will not be able to do this.

In addition to identifying a memory disorder, when diagnosing acquired dementia, it is necessary to confirm that the patient has aphasia, agnosia, apraxia, and other characteristic features illness. In addition to everything, an assessment of the mental status of the patient is carried out.

Electrocardiography, dopplerography of vessels, magnetic resonance and CT scan. Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease are detected using the Khachinsky ischemic scale. The verdict on the disease and its stage is made on the basis of the total points scored by the patient.

Differential Diagnosis

In clinical practice, organic dementia during the examination of the patient must be differentiated from the so-called depressive pseudodementia. Often severe depression are accompanied by a pronounced disorder of the intellect, which can be taken as signs of dementia. Severe psychological trauma and stress can also cause pseudodementia as a kind of protective reaction.

In some cases, intellectual impairment occurs with metabolic disorders, for example, a lack of vitamin B12, folic acid, or other substances necessary for the human body. In such cases, all the symptoms of dementia disappear after a competent correction of violations.

It is important to emphasize that it can be very difficult to differentiate between pseudodementia and organic dementia, even for experienced professionals. Most often, the correct diagnosis is possible only with constant and long-term monitoring of the patient's condition. in addition, dementia must be differentiated from memory impairments, which are common in the elderly, cognitive disorders that occur against the background of depression.

Unfortunately, with organic dementia, treatment can almost always be only supportive. Therapy is prescribed to compensate for cognitive deficits and improve cerebral circulation. To do this, the doctor prescribes the appropriate medications, individually setting their dosage for each individual patient. Speaking about how long such treatment should last, it should be emphasized that maintenance therapy is necessary throughout life. As a symptomatic treatment, sedatives and antidepressants may be prescribed. It is worth noting that dementia that occurs against the background of depression does not disappear even when the latter is eliminated.

dementia - pathology, which is characterized by changes in the cognitive sphere.

The disease proceeds with a deterioration in perception, memory and thinking, as well as behavioral disorders (loss of the ability to take care of oneself, take care of one's life and health, etc.).

Dementia is a progressive disease that often leads to disability.

What should relatives do if one of the family members is diagnosed with this disease?

Carry out self-care or place the patient in a specialized institution?

These are the questions ethics, financial condition and the possibility of staying around the clock next to the patient.

By choosing a boarding house for the elderly with dementia, relatives will provide him with qualified care and appropriate treatment. You can take care of such patients at home, periodically visiting doctors and undergoing examinations.

Although dementia most often affects the elderly and senile people and affects about 5 million people on Earth, it is not the result of natural aging. This is a pathology that needs treatment. The disease completely disappears in very rare cases, but it is possible to slow down its development by applying complex measures - combining the advantages of pharmacological agents and psychotherapy.

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ICD-10 code

Medical science classifies the disease as an organic dysfunction that occurs with psychological disorders of thinking, memory, behavior, it gives it another name - dementia .

This violation has its own typology and codes ( F00-F09).
1. Senile dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease ( F00) is considered a little-studied phenomenon, its causes are practically unknown. This type of dementia has a slow but steadily progressive course.

2. Vascular dementia, the symptoms and treatment of which depend on the underlying disease, has the code - F01. This is a secondary pathology, it is the result of brain damage as a result of strokes, atherosclerosis or injuries (bruises, wounds, contusions). With timely therapy for this form of dementia, the cognitive sphere is partially restored. And although patients cannot carry out complex mental operations (counting Money, reading analysis, etc.), they successfully take care of themselves (go to the toilet, take a shower and eat, etc.).
3. Dementia due to other diseases ( F02), is associated with tumor processes, neuronal damage during infections, inflammatory and degenerative diseases.
4. Cases of dementia of unspecified genesis (origin) by code F03, occur against the background of psychosis, depression.

ICD-10 gives a decoding of each type of dementia known to science and its brief decoding.

Alcoholic, idiopathic or inorganic forms of dementia received their individual code and description in it.

Causes

1. Alzheimer's disease, it accounts for more than 60% of dementia in old age.
2 Pick's disease or frontotemporal dementia affects adults aged 40-45 years.
3. Progressive vascular pathologies (arteritis, atherosclerosis) or metabolic disorders ( diabetes, obesity).
4. Intoxication, against which mental insufficiency develops, caused by the mass death of neuronal cells under the influence of biological toxins (with infections) or chemical reagents (with poisoning, alcoholism, drug addiction).
5. Neoplasms and injuries. In these cases, the degeneration of normal tissues causes a pronounced impairment of cognitive functions and behavior of patients.
6. . In some forms of this disease, progressive dementia can begin.
7., often with an exacerbation of mental illness, schizophrenic dementia manifests itself.
8. Chronic lack of oxygen in diseases of the lungs, heart, kidneys, blood.
9. Dementia with Lewy bodies (degenerate protein fractions) affects people at any age, contributing to the degeneration of healthy brain tissue.

Symptoms and signs

Dementia in the elderly, whose symptoms may come on gradually or abruptly, is in most cases characterized by:

• memory lapses;
• a decrease in the ability to perceive and analyze new information, to master new motor and everyday skills;
• loss of spatial orientation;
• changes in character, emotional mood, ways of interacting with others;
  - narrowing the circle of communication and interests;
• the appearance of confusion, hallucinations, delirium;
• severe disturbances in sleep and wakefulness.

Presenile dementia develops in old age and is characterized by a more acute development. Senile dementia (senile) is less aggressive, but with steady progression.

expressiveness clinical signs dementia depends on the form and severity of the disease.

Stages of development and life expectancy

The disease, as a rule, has several stages in development:

1. Elementary . Signs of dementia are barely perceptible, these are:
- instant forgetfulness (failure is observed immediately upon receipt of new information);
— deterioration in temporal and spatial orientation;
- insomnia, emotional decline (reduced manifestations of joy and sadness, the person has an apathetic appearance).
2. Early . It proceeds with difficulties in the selection of words
ri speaking and writing, forgetting the names and arrangement of things. Misunderstanding of the thoughts of other people during communication (requests, reasoning), the emotional state of the interlocutor. The ability to self-service is partially reduced (they cannot do laundry, cook food, clean the room, etc.). Atypical changes in character are observed, tearfulness, aggression, withdrawal into oneself or, conversely, hysterical seizures, a desire to gather more “spectators” around oneself may appear.
2. Intermediate . During this period, sick people lose spatial reference points, sometimes do not respond to calls to them, lose the ability to provide domestic services, often forget the names of loved ones and cannot remember events from the past.
It is possible that such a course of the disease will require constant monitoring of the lives of patients, since they can unknowingly harm themselves and others (leave open tap water, gas, go outside and get lost, etc.).
3. Late . The last stage of dementia before death proceeds with immobilization of patients, urinary and fecal incontinence, loss of memory and the ability to adequately perceive reality.
In some forms of dementia (Alzheimer's type, alcoholic or schizophrenic), as well as in its mixed course, delusions of persecution, hallucinations, phobias, and mania are observed.

Treatment

Treatment for the disease includes medications and psychotherapeutic techniques.

• Pharmacological preparations used to improve the nutrition of brain tissues and enrich them with oxygen.
• Psychotherapy for better socialization of patients in society.

Since the cause of dementia is certain diseases or conditions, the basis of treatment is precisely their correction.

intently therapy requires attention dementia among women, they get sick more often than men. Therefore, when diagnosing, it is important to study the hormonal background of women, and when treating, take into account that their emotional sphere is more mobile and requires the use of sedative and antidepressant drugs.

Therapy of dementia in children (with oligophrenia, psychosis, cerebral palsy, tumors, and other diseases) has been carried out for many years. At vascular pathologies and traumatic injuries, progress and improvement of the cognitive functions and memory of the child are possible.

With a complex course, the degeneration processes can be “slowed down” for a while and improve the quality of life of young patients.

Using drug-free methods, specialists try to correct the emotional sphere of patients and their behavioral reactions.

For this apply:

• psychotherapy(supportive, with the technique of evoking pleasant memories from the past, sensory, musical, art therapy, animation, etc.);
• psychocorrection(exercises for the formation of stable stereotypes of behavior in everyday life and society, orientation in space and time, training self-service skills).

Preparations

After a comprehensive examination in a hospital, further treatment at home is possible. Patients are prescribed drugs for the treatment of the underlying disease.
The basic treatments for most forms of dementia are:

• inhibitors cholinesterases: (Galantamine, Donepizil), their action is based on the accumulation of acetylcholine in brain neurons, a substance that slows down degenerative processes;
• modulators NMDA receptors: (Akatinol,), these drugs effectively reduce the production of glutamate, a substance that negatively affects brain cells and destroys them;
• antipsychotic , sedatives and antidepressants, their use is justified with pronounced changes in the emotional background, the appearance of aggression, anxiety, fears, manias.
• neuroprotectors (Somazin, Cerebrolysin,), which improve the trophism of brain tissues, their nutrition and oxygen supply, are effective in vascular pathologies.

With dementia, it is important to start early adequate therapy, this will allow the patient to retain independent skills in everyday life and mental functions for a longer time, and in some forms, restore many lost abilities.

How many years patients who receive treatment live with such a diagnosis depends on the form and severity of the disease.

With mild forms, with normal functioning of cardio-vascular system, -many years.

In severe cases, with loss of motor activity, patients die from concomitant complications (sepsis, cardiac, pulmonary or renal failure).

Video

Senile dementia is a common ailment.

It is characterized by the disintegration of the personality, leads to complete maladaptation of the patient.

Changes in the brain are of an organic nature, therefore, are irreversible. Doctors have adopted various classifications of the disease.

Dementia is an organic lesion of the brain (organic dementia), leading to the loss of all previously acquired skills, knowledge, abilities and the impossibility of acquiring new ones.

According to ICD 10, the disease has the code F00-F03.

The classification of pathology is based on the following features:

• cause of occurrence;
• localization of the lesion;
• the nature of manifestations.

Functional-anatomical forms

Depending on which part of the brain has changed, there are several types of dementia. Dementia is subdivided into:

According to the degree of intellectual defeat, such types of senile insanity are distinguished as:

1. Lacunar dementia. Changes occur in memory, attention. A patient with lacunar dementia is often tired, unable to concentrate on something. But criticality to their actions remains.

   The disease is a consequence of atherosclerosis (atherosclerotic dementia), cerebellar tumors, the initial stage of Alzheimer's disease.

2. partial dementia. Superficial changes occur due to contusion, encephalitis, meningitis. A person is aware of his condition, tries to compensate for shortcomings.
3. Total dementia (diffuse, global). Total dementia develops in the late stage of Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, brain tumors.

The patient has a complete disintegration of the personality, the loss of all skills, there is no critical attitude towards oneself.

Etiopathogenetic varieties

Dementia occurs for many reasons. Depending on the condition that caused the collapse of the personality, dementia is divided into the following types:

1. Vascular. (F01). It develops secondarily as a complication of cerebrovascular accident. The main provoking factors are atherosclerosis and hypertension, in which small cerebral hemorrhage occurs.

   The first symptoms are nervous and mental disorders(depression), then memory, thinking worsens.



2. Dementia of the Alzheimer's type. (G30-39). With this disease, the death of brain neurons occurs, the cerebral cortex atrophies.

   The first symptom of the disease is memory impairment. As the progression progresses, a complete maladjustment of the patient develops.

3. Idiopathic dementia (dementia unspecified type). (G30.9). The causes of occurrence have not been established. Symptoms do not differ from the Alzheimer's type: impaired memory, movement, loss of all cognitive functions.
4. Presenile dementia. It is a variant of Alzheimer's dementia. Develops in the 5th year of the disease. The main symptom is a speech disorder. The patient confuses the names of objects, his speech is meaningless.
5. Pick's disease. (G31.0). With this disease, the frontotemporal cerebral lobes atrophy, which are responsible for behavior and self-control of a person. At the initial stage, memory remains unchanged, but behavioral skills are lost, speech and thinking are disturbed.
6. A consequence of Parkinson's disease. (G20). It is characterized by impaired movement, loss of coordination. In the later stages, the ability to walk, perform simple physical actions is lost.
7. . It occurs as a result of the destructive effect of large doses of alcohol. Violations occur in the departments responsible for memory, thinking, perception, coordination of movement. At a later stage, the personality is completely degraded.
8. Traumatic dementia. Development depends on the repetition of injuries. With a single injury does not progress.

   Another type of traumatic dementia is boxing dementia. It occurs as a result of repeated craniocerebral injuries, leading to atrophy of brain cells.
   

   Symptoms depend on the location of the lesion. There are speech disorders, decreased intelligence, mental disorders.

9. Toxic (drug-induced) dementia. Occurs due to long-term use medicines in large doses. Means such as lowering blood pressure, antidepressants, antipsychotics, heart medications can provoke disorders in the brain. This species is characterized by a reversible course.
10. (consequence of epilepsy). However, the cause is not the disease itself, but injuries during falls, brain hypoxia, treatment with phenobarbital. The emotional-volitional sphere is affected. The patient becomes aggressive, vengeful, perception and thinking are disturbed.



11. Dementia due to multiple sclerosis. Destroyed in multiple sclerosis myelin sheath nerves.

    If the disease is not treated, the brain will also be affected at a later stage. Memory, thinking, self-criticism suffer.

12. Dementia due to mixed diseases. It is the result of a combination of diseases that provoke the destruction of neurons.

    For example, the patient may have epilepsy and schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. In this case, all the signs inherent in existing diseases are present.

13. . Develops on the background of schizophrenia. It is characterized by a psychopathic course. Depression begins, manic pursuit, then orientation in space, coordination of movement is lost.

    The peculiarity of this type is that the symptoms can weaken, sometimes disappear altogether, then return with renewed vigor.

14. Hypothermic. Some doctors classify this type of dementia into a separate group. It is considered a consequence of metabolic disorders in the vessels of the brain, which occur under the influence of high or low temperatures(long stay in the cold).
15. Senile (). It is the result of natural aging of the body. The death of neurons occurs due to hormonal imbalance, the volume and mass of the brain decreases. Diagnosed at a late age.

Other types of disease and their brief characteristics

In medicine, there are types of dementia that are not so widespread. According to the ICD, this type of disease is designated by the code F02.8.

Each type of senile insanity is characterized by its own cognitive impairment. Only in some cases there is a combination of multiple symptoms. The doctor's task is to determine the source of progressive dementia.

Therapy is prescribed in accordance with the disease that provoked the process of degradation of brain cells. The classification of the disease is adopted to identify the root cause of the pathology and prescribe adequate treatment.

Dementia is a lesion of the central nervous system manifested in the suppression of human cognitive functions.

The formation of this disease is accompanied by many different factors, therefore, the term "dementia" is often of a general nature, since this disorder can manifest itself.

What are the causes? Despite the variety of causes of dementia, the violation originates from the gradual deterioration of the work of certain areas of the brain.

loss process nerve cells brain in human body begins at the age of 20, so complaints of forgetfulness in the elderly are quite understandable, but if such age-related changes lead to discomfort in everyday life, then perhaps this is the beginning of the manifestation.

Medical practice has more than 200 pathological conditions that provoke the death of neurons and the destruction of connections between them, leading to dementia.

One of the main sources is, it is she who covers more than half of the cases and is its specific variety, in which significant damage to the cerebral cortex is independent in the general mechanism of the disease.

A special risk group should also include people who have malfunctions in the circulatory system (atherosclerosis, hypertension, cerebral ischemia) due to poor blood flow and saturation of the brain with oxygen.

The likelihood of occurrence increases several times in people who have had a stroke, which is expressed by blockage of blood vessels by a blood clot or thrombus, as a result of which the blood circulation of the brain is significantly affected and, if urgent measures are not taken, leads to hypoxia.

In such patients, the manifestation of such a disorder is about ten times higher in the first few months after a stroke than in healthy people, especially for the group of patients whose age is from 60 years and above.

Can dementia occur after a stroke? On the prevention of dementia after a stroke in the video:

Why do old people get insanity

What are the causes of dementia in old age? - this is a collective concept, numbering in itself not a single reason.

Most pathologies that cause changes in the cerebral cortex can contribute to its appearance in the elderly, however on most cases are as follows:

1. Alzheimer's disease, caused by the deposition of senile plaques inside the brain, contributing to the violation of its function. This ailment is irreversible and reduces life expectancy up to 10 years from the onset of malaise.
2. Vascular dementia, which is also formed due to the deposition of plaques, but already inside the vessels of the brain, leading to an increase intracranial pressure and, consequently, reduced blood flow to the brain. In some cases, its complete violation in one of the parts of the brain is possible - a stroke condition.
3. Parkinson's disease, expressed by a lack of dopamine in the structure of the brain, which leads to the suppression of cognitive functions and complicates the acquisition of new skills.

Additional opportunities for the formation of senile dementia include a genetic indicator that increases the likelihood of dementia in the elderly by five times, the presence of stress in the life of the patient and other somatic ailments.

Can appear in children and young people

What diseases can lead to dementia? may also present with symptoms of acquired dementia and There can be many reasons for this:

In addition, the development of the disease can be a complication of hemodialysis, complications in severe renal and hepatic insufficiency, and patients with Pick's disease are also at risk.

usually observed in the form of one of the symptoms of disorders such as childhood and adolescent schizophrenia, mental retardation, various mental disorders.

Usually, the development of the disease is expressed in a decrease in mental abilities, deterioration in remembering sometimes even the simplest information, up to difficulties with remembering your name, speech impairment and loss of previously acquired skills.

Risk factors

The main risk factors today include:

According to statistics, every year the number of patients with dementia is about seven million, and the further prognosis is disappointing: an increasing number of people are showing signs of this disease.

In most cases dementia is an irreversible process.

Therefore, today the key in the fight against such a diagnosis is the timely and treatment of diseases that can induce the onset of dementia, as well as a professional approach to patients with an already acquired disease that can slow it down and restore the former joy of life.

What are the causes of dementia? Find out from the video: