There are many different types of dementia with some being more common than others. The following list provides an overview of the most common causes of dementia.
The most common causes of Dementia:
Rarer causes of Dementia and related diseases:
The most common causes of Dementia:
- Alzheimer's Disease is the most common cause of Dementia.
- Vascular Dementia results from a failure of oxygen supply to the brain which can occur suddenly, following a stroke, or over time, through a series of small strokes.
- Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) results from small spherical structures that develop inside nerve cells and lead to the degeneration of brain tissue.
- Fronto-temporal Dementia stems from damage in the frontal part of the brain, initially mainly affecting personality and behavior and only later the memory.
Rarer causes of Dementia and related diseases:
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) results from prions (infectious agents) attacking the central nervous system (CNS) and subsequently invading the brain.
- Korsakoff's Syndrome is associated with heavy drinking over a long period of time. It is not dementia in the strict sense, however it comes with short-term memory loss.
- HIV-related cognitive impairment can arise particularly in the later stages of the disease.
- Mild-cognitive impairment (MCI) describes people who have some memory problems but actually do not have dementia.
- There are many other rarer causes of dementia, including progressive supranuclear palsy and Binswanger's disease. People with multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease can also be at an increased risk of developing dementia.