Dementia – causes, epidemiology, classification

Synonyms of dementia: a chronically occurring psychosyndrome, organic progressive disorder of brain activity in the elderly. Definition of dementia. Relatively frequent impairment of memory and other cognitive functions (eg, orientation), lasting longer than 6 months. Epidemiology of dementia. In Germany, about 1 million patients, the development of the disease is associated with age, about 60% of cases are Alzheimer’s disease.

Causes of dementia

1. Degenerative (atrophic processes of the brain): Alzheimer’s disease, Pick’s disease, Choking’s disease, dementia, adenitis, dementia, affection, affection, a complex of Guam Island (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis + dementia + parkinsonism), idiopathic Parkinson’s syndrome, spinal-cerebellar, and cerebellar-cerebral hereditary ataxia, asymptomatic heart disease, spinal-cerebellar, and cerebellar-cerebral hereditary ataxia, asymptoma Richardson-Olszewski) and others.

2. Brain diseases caused by vascular disorders: hypertensive encephalopathy, subcortical arteriosclerotic encephalopathy (Binswanger disease), multi-infarction syndrome, other hemodynamically-thromboembolic-related vascular diseases, vasculitis, etc.

3. Metabolic disorders, endocrine disorders: diabetes mellitus porphyria, hepatic / renal insufficiency, lipidosis, glucogenosis, mitochondrial encephalopathy, hypovitaminosis, avitaminosis (primarily B1, B6, B12, nicotinic acid), Addison disease, Cushing disease, hypo / hyperthyroidism, hypochondrosis, hypoemia, hyperplasia;

4. Chronic intoxication: alcohol medicinal / narcotic preparations salts of heavy metals (for example, lead), organic compounds (for example, solvents), etc.

5. Inflammatory diseases, infections: syphilis (progressive paralysis) multiple sclerosis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, meningoencephalitis, etc.

6. Neoplasms, tumors: a) intracranial: brain tumors, tumors of the base of the skull b) extracranial: carcinomatous meningitis, paraneoplastic syndrome

7. Traumatic brain injuries: brain contusion, chronic subdural hematomas 8. Cerebral diseases occurring with seizures: various forms of epilepsy Classification of dementia: – Alzheimer’s disease – Dementia with Levi bodies, – Parkinson’s disease (50% of people with Parkinson’s disease develop dementia !) – Dementia Fronto-temporal (Pick’s disease) – Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease – Vascular Dementia
Source: https://meduniver.com/Medical/Psixology/demencia.html MedUniver

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