Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease: What are the Differences?

Dementia vs. Alzheimer's Disease

With the improvement in health services and public welfare and the success of family planning programs in Indonesia, the population pyramid shows changes that affect health service policies and strategies. The number of the elderly population is increasing. This trend has been anticipated by various institutions, both the government and the private sector, by paying better attention to groups of people aged over 65 years. Health problems in the elderly population are closely related to the process of unavoidable degeneration. The whole body system, sooner or later, will degenerate. Clinical, laboratory and radiological manifestations depend on the organ and affected system. One of the typical clinical manifestations is the onset of dementia. Dementia can occur at any age, depending on the causative factor. However, dementia is most common in the elderly. 

From the medical aspect, dementia is a problem that is no less complicated than the problems found in other chronic diseases (stroke, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, malignancy). Medical and health sciences have a mission to improve the quality of human life. Someone who has dementia will inevitably experience a decrease in quality of life. Its presence in family or community become a burden for the environment, and they are no longer independent.

Dementia is as known as a gradual loss of cognitive function, multidimensional and persistent, caused by organic damage of the central nervous system. It is not accompanied by acute loss of consciousness, such as delirium. Meanwhile, Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that is irreversible and progressive associated with changes in nerve cells, thereby causing brain cell death. Alzheimer's disease occurs gradually; it is not part of the normal aging process and is the most common type of dementia. 

The terms "dementia" and "Alzheimer's" are often used as though they mean the same thing. They are related, but there are important differences between the two. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are not the same. Dementia has been known as the term used to describe symptoms that impact memory, the performance of daily activities, and communication abilities. Alzheimer's disease gets worse with time and affects memory, language, and thought. Although symptoms of the two conditions may overlap, distinguishing them is essential for management and treatment.

Dementia

Dementia is a syndrome, not a disease. A syndrome is a group of symptoms that does not have a definitive diagnosis. Dementia is a broad ("umbrella") term for an individual's changes in memory, thinking or reasoning. There are many possible causes of dementia, including Alzheimer's. The World Health Organization Trusted Source says that 47.5 million people around the world are living with dementia.

Symptoms of Dementia

The symptoms of dementia will vary depending on the cause, but common signs and symptoms include cognitive and psychological changes. 

It is easy to overlook the early symptoms of dementia, which can be mild. It often begins with simple episodes of forgetfulness (memory loss) which is usually be noticed by someone else. People with dementia have trouble keeping track of time and tend to lose their way in familiar settings.

As dementia progresses, it can have a significant impact on the ability to function independently. It is a significant cause of disability for older adults and places an emotional and financial burden on families and caregivers. They become harder to recall names and faces, communicate or find words, get lost with visual and spatial abilities, confusion and disorientation, and have difficulty with coordination and motor functions.