What forms of dementia are there?
Dementia diseases: An overview of the most common types of dementia
The term dementia refers to a large group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the progressive loss of cognitive functions such as memory, thinking and decision-making. Dementia leads to a significant loss of the ability to cope with everyday life. Although Alzheimer’s dementia is the most common form, accounting for around 65 percent of all dementia cases, there are numerous other forms of dementia that also have a significant impact on patients, their families and their social environment. Below is an overview of the main types of dementia that exist in addition to Alzheimer’s dementia.
Other dementia diseases, their causes and symptoms
The exact causes of dementia are still not fully understood. In science, there are numerous different hypotheses that attempt to get to the bottom of the triggers of these complex diseases. The amyloid hypothesis, which suggests that the accumulation of amyloid proteins in the brain plays a central role in the development of Alzheimer’s and possibly other forms of dementia, is currently still the most favored, but is also increasingly controversial. This is because there are also a growing number of hypotheses that consider inflammatory processes, vascular problems or genetic factors (such as APOE4) or the combination of several causes. This discussion in the scientific community shows how complex and multi-layered dementia diseases are. According to the American National Institute on Aging (NIH), there are currently over 100 different types of dementia. These different forms differ in their causes, symptoms and the course of the disease. After Alzheimer’s dementia, there are other common forms of dementia: