Dementia

Risk factors of dementia include:

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure (Hypertension)
• High cholesterol (Hypercholesterolemia)
• Age
• Family history
• Stroke
• Parkinson disease

Some causes of dementia include:

• Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
  AD is the most common form of dementia. Changes in the brain occur gradually. Signs include short term memory, changes in judgment, reasoning and inability to perform daily tasks.


• Vascular Dementia (VaD)
  VaD is linked to strokes and may be preventable. The lack of blood circulation in the brain results in localised damage to brain areas involved in attention, planning and behaviour.


• Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)
  In the early stages, FTD mainly affects personality, behaviour and speech. Persons with FTD may behave rashly while their memory and sense of direction remain relatively intact.


• Lewy Body Dementia (LBD)
  LBD is a form of progressive dementia with noticeable changes in attention and ability to function from day to day. Persons may appear to have a lively imagination or hallucination. Signs may resemble those of Parkinson Disease.


• Young Onset Dementia (YOD)
  There is an increasing number of patients with YOD. This refers to dementia patients who are below 65 years old.
  
  The increased number could be due to rising awareness, resulting in more being diagnosed. It could also be due to the higher prevalence of vascular risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes.