Question

Is primary dementia reversible?

Answer 1

When loss of mental functions—such as thinking, memory, and reasoning—are severe enough to interfere with a person's independent daily functioning, they are said to be at the stage of dementia. Dementia is not a disease itself, but rather the total impact of symptoms that might accompany certain diseases or conditions on daily function. Symptoms also might include changes in personality, mood, and behavior.

Dementia develops when the parts of the brain that are involved with learning, memory, decision-making, and language are affected by any of various infections or diseases. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, but there are numerous other known causes. Most of these causes are very rare.

Dementia is irreversible when caused by degenerative disease or trauma, but might be reversible in some cases when caused by drugs, alcohol, hormone or vitamin imbalances, or depression. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate dementia symptoms comprehensively, so as not to miss potentially treatable conditions. The frequency of "treatable" causes of dementia is believed to be about 20 percent.

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How common is dementia?

Although dementia has always been common, it has become even more common among the elderly in recent history. It is not clear if this increased frequency of dementia reflects a greater awareness of the symptoms or if people simply are living longer and thus are more likely to develop dementia in their older age.

Dementia caused by neurological degenerative disease, especially Alzheimer's disease, is increasing in frequency more than most other types of dementia. Some researchers suspect that as many as half of all people over 85 years old develop Alzheimer's disease. Dementia associated with AIDS, which appeared to be increasing in frequency in the 1990s is now much less commonly seen, since the development of highly effect anti-retroviral therapy.