The Difference Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
Do you know the difference between Alzheimer's disease and dementia? It is a common misconception that these two causes of memory loss are the same, so the terms are generally interchangeable. However, there are many differences.
Dementia is a general term that is used to express an individual's decline or loss of cognitive functions, which include thinking, reasoning, and remembering. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, which has to be medically diagnosed.
Dementia symptoms can appear in an individual due to many different reasons other than Alzheimer’s. This includes Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and chronic drug use.
Alzheimer's disease is a specific progressive disease, while there are multiple types of dementia.
The onset ages for Alzheimer’s and dementia can be different. Approximately 95% of individuals that are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are 65 years of age or older. Certain causes of dementia such as depression and chronic drug use can cause these symptoms to develop at a much younger age.
Dementia only affects an individual’s cognitive functioning. However, in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease, an individual’s physical abilities can become limited.
While many early signs and symptoms are similar between the two, it is important to know the difference because they are medically treated differently.
