Cause Of Dementia Essay

Although dementia as a whole is caused by brain damage, hindering the brains ability to communicate properly, subsets of dementia are linked with different types of brain cell damage according to the region affected (Alzheimer’s Association). Alzheimer’s contains a high number of hallmark abnormalities, including “deposits of the protein fragment beta-amyloid and twisted strands of the protein tau” (Alzheimer’s Association). Vascular dementia is typically caused by strokes and/or instances that cause blood vessel complications, and dementia with lewy bodies contains clumps of alpha-synuclein on the cortex (“Dementia”). Furthermore, there is mixed dementia, Parkinson’s disease dementia, and frontotemporal dementia that all encumber the most
Firstly, age, family history, and heredity cannot be changed; within these are risk genes, increasing the likelihood but with no guarantee, and deterministic genes, ones that directly cause a disease (Alzheimer’s Association). In other instances, head trauma, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, diabetes and high cholesterol play a significant role in one’s chance of acquiring dementia (Alzheimer’s Association). Alarmingly, around thirty percent of individuals who have dementia also have heart disease; twenty-nine percent also have diabetes (“2016 Alzheimer’s Statistics”). In particular, males who have a high blood pressure, had a heart or transient ischemic attack, or have atherosclerosis are at a greater risk for vascular dementia (“Dementia”). Ultimately, dementia types are unique in their own ways. Each one has causes, factors, and symptoms all directly related to each specific type; however, diagnosis remains quite
Instead, doctors perform a series of medical evaluations (“Alzheimer’s Disease and Caregiving”). Ordinarily, a typical diagnosis begins with a thorough evaluation of the patient’s family history as well as any noticeable character changes in thinking, everyday function, and behavior, which is quintessentially easy for a doctor to perceive if having seen the patient for many years and/or months (Alzheimer’s Association). Secondly, blood tests and brain scans such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomographies (PET) will be conducted, followed by neurological and neuropsychological assessments that look for biomarkers - abnormal findings in blood or cerebrospinal fluid (“Alzheimer’s Disease and Caregiving”). Once memory loss is established as abnormal, possible specialized memory testing is used to rule out other illnesses. In the final analysis, the doctor will conventionally diagnose ‘dementia’ and not a single type, most of the time with substantial accuracy (Alzheimer’s Association). In cases of those with early onset, diagnosis is somewhat similar. For instance, early onset begins in an individual’s forties and fifties, approximately 200,000 people have it, and it is caused by deterministic genes (Alzheimer’s Association). Once the deterministic genes are located through tests mentioned before such as a medical exam, a thorough look at family history, and a neurological