Dementia

In Australia around 200 000 people have the diagnosis of dementia and close to a million people are affected as families or carers. Dementia can affect younger people; currently over 9 600 Australians under the age of 65 have early onset dementia

Dementia is not a natural ageing process, but is always due to disease.

Dementia is a condition where brain function is impaired. Impaired memory is the most prominent symptom, although the ability to reason and judgment are often impaired as well, and changes can also be observed in the person's personality, mood and behavior.

The Criteria for a Diagnosis of Dementia are:
Significant memory failure.
Failure of another cognitive function, either attention, thinking, language or sense of direction (see below).
The patient's ability to perform daily tasks (so-called activities of daily living) must be affected.
The person must not have delirium or confusion.
There must either be signs that the disease has a physical cause (a blood clot in the brain, for example), or the doctor must also be certain that there it is not a psychiatric disease (for example, depression,).

Depression may arise in association with the progression of dementia. Appr. 50 % of patients with Alzheimer's dementia develop a depressive condition during the course of their illness. The frequency for vascular dementia is slightly higher.

Please see further information about dementia at www.dementianet.com.au