Every year, 200,000 people in the Federal Republic of Germany develop dementia. The older we get, the higher the risk of developing dementia: more than seven percent of people over the age of 65 in Germany are affected, and even almost one in three people over the age of 90 has the disease. This makes it all the more important to recognize early on when the first signs of the disease appear. We explain which causes and symptoms speak for, but also against dementia.
Causes of dementia
Dementia describes the condition of mental decline and loss of previously mastered skills. The causes vary. The most common subtype is Alzheimer’s dementia, in which nerve cells of the brain go to waste, break down, because protein plaques are deposited in them. Another cause of dementia is a lack of blood flow to the brain. This form of the disease is called vascular dementia. It is based on many small strokes that become noticeable only in the aggregate.
Relatives worry
Because of the high number of people with dementia, many people are afraid of developing it themselves or that their loved ones may be affected by dementia. As soon as things are misplaced or details forgotten, it quickly raises the thought, could there be something wrong? But not everyone who forgets things is suffering from dementia. It is natural to misplace and forget things – and this is part of the normal aging process.
Tests for early detection of dementia
On the other hand, to detect the onset of dementia in its early stages, there are specific points to which both relatives and the attending physician can pay attention. Behavioral observations, language tests, and cognitive tasks are particularly helpful in revealing the first signs of dementia. The following symptoms indicate dementia:
- Language limitations: Problems with finding the right words in conversation or following the other person in the course of conversation.
- Judgment wanes: Trouble understanding complex relationships that were previously understood without problems, such as how to cook a meal, how to do shopping in the supermarket, how to operate simple electrical appliances
- Forgetfulness in everyday life: objects are misplaced, already said repeated several times, appointments or together experienced are forgotten
- Loss of orientation in previously known environment
- Personality changes: increased irritability, internal and external agitation.
Symptoms of dementia per stage
Slight restrictions, which are typical for the early stages of dementia, are apparent, for example, when complicated tasks can no longer be solved in everyday life, such as calculating or reading a clock. Independent living is then already limited, but still possible. It becomes more problematic when even simple everyday tasks can no longer be mastered, such as dressing and grooming oneself correctly, because the function of everyday objects is no longer recognized as such. The affected persons are then dependent on outside help. In a severe form of dementia, the cognitive functions of the sufferer are so impaired that they can no longer comprehend even simple trains of thought.
MRI as an additional examination
Imaging studies of the brain, such as an MRI, are not among the first measures used to diagnose dementia. However, they can help distinguish between different causes of dementia. For example, in vascular dementia, which is caused by many small strokes, the scars from the strokes show up on an MRI or CT scan. And in Alzheimer’s dementia, PET/CT (positron emission tomography/computed tomography) shows lower metabolism of the brain’s neurons. In addition, study results have shown that the size of the brain in advanced AD is decreased on MRI. However, this is not specific enough to make a diagnosis – leading the way to a diagnosis of “dementia” are the symptoms of mental decline.
Distinguishing dementia from other diseases
It is also important to distinguish dementia from other diseases, for example, from depression, which is often also accompanied by a deterioration in mental performance.When dementia is suspected, it is also important to remember that other causes, such as malnutrition, new-onset hearing loss, or thyroid dysfunction, can look similar to dementia.
