Dementia

Alternative names:

chronic brain syndrome

Definition:

A group of symptoms involving progressive impairment of all aspects of brain function.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Disorders that cause dementia are usually disorders that impair the vascular (blood vessel) or neurologic structures of the brain (organic brain syndrome). A few causes of dementia are treatable. Treatable causes include normal pressure hydrocephalus, brain tumors, and dementia due to metabolic causes. However, many of the disorders associated with dementia are progressive, irreversible, degenerative conditions.

Dementia may be diagnosed when there is impairment of two or more brain functions, including language, memory, visual-spatial perception, emotional behavior or personality, and cognitive skills (such as calculation, abstraction, or judgment). Dementia usually appears first as forgetfulness. Other symptoms may be apparent only on neurologic examination or cognitive testing. Loss of functioning progresses slowly from decreased problem solving and language skills, to difficulty with ordinary daily activities, to severe memory loss and complete disorientation with withdrawal from social interaction.

Dementia is a medical, social, and economic problem. It becomes increasingly significant as the number of elderly people increases.