Dementia is a term used to cover a series of progressive neurological disorders involving more than 200 subtypes of dementia. What are the early 10 signs of dementia?
Dementia is a devastating disease that affects the brain and causes a range of physical and mental symptoms. With 200 recognised subtypes of dementia, more than 850,000 people in the UK are estimated to live with one form of the condition.
Statistics from the NHS show one in 14 people over the age of 65 have dementia, with the condition affecting one in six people over the age of 80.
There are five more common types of dementia and these are Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia and mixed dementia.
The condition can also affect people under the age of 65, with approximately 42,000 people in the UK living with young onset dementia according to Dementia UK.
So what exactly is dementia and what causes it?
The brain contains a wealth of nerve cells, which help the body perform daily tasks by sending messages to one another.
Dementia damages the nerve cells in the brain, which means they are unable to communicate with one another.
This leads to the body being unable to perform everyday tasks, and often not functioning properly.
However, the disease affects everyone differently, with different parts of the brain affected more than others.
By 2025, Dementia UK reports more than one million people will be living with dementia in the UK.
Although the early signs vary, common early symptoms of dementia include:
- memory problems, particularly remembering recent events
- increasing confusion
- reduced concentration
- personality or behaviour changes
- apathy and withdrawal or depression
- loss of ability to do everyday tasks