Different Types Of Dementia

The most common types of dementia include:

• Alzheimer’s disease

  This is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 percent of cases. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurologic disorder that causes the brain to shrink (atrophy) and brain cells to die. It is caused by the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells. The symptom is trouble remembering recent events, such as a conversation that occurred minutes or hours ago, while difficulty remembering more distant memories occurs later in the disease. Other concerns, like difficulty with walking or talking, or personality changes, also come later. Family history is the most important risk factor. .

• Vascular dementia

  Vascular dementia is a general term describing problems with reasoning, planning, judgment, memory, and other thought processes caused by brain damage from impaired blood flow to your brain. You can develop vascular dementia after a stroke blocks an artery in your brain, but strokes don't always cause vascular dementia.

• Lewy body dementia

  Lewy body dementia, also known as dementia with Lewy bodies, is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's disease. Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory, and movement. Other than memory loss, people with this form of dementia may have movement or balance problems like stiffness or trembling. Many people also experience changes in alertness including daytime sleepiness, confusion, or staring spells. They may also have trouble sleeping at night or may experience visual hallucinations. .

• Fronto-temporal dementia

  Frontotemporal dementia is an umbrella term for a group of uncommon brain disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These areas of the brain are generally associated with personality, behaviour, and language. In frontotemporal dementia, portions of these lobes shrink. Symptoms include behaviour and or dramatic personality changes, socially inappropriate, impulsive, or repetitive behaviours, impaired judgment, apathy, lack of empathy, and decreased self-awareness.

• Mixed dementia

  Mixed dementia’ is a condition in which a person has more than one type of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia is the most common type.

The most common types of dementia include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, Fronto-temporal dementia, and Mixed Dementia.