Week 6 Flashcards
What are the 3 ways to divide progressive dementia?
- cortical dementia
- subcortical dementia
- mixed dementia
What is the most prevalent dementia in the population?
AD
Who is clinical evaluation of dementia usually done by?
Geriatrician, neurologist, medical practitioner. Clinical neuropsychologist opinions is essential.
___ diagnosis is important in dementia
Early
Information obtained to make a dementia diagnosis includes:
- present history
- past/social history
- cognitive assessment
- brain imaging
- other medical testing
What is one advantage of early diagnosis in dementing cognitions
- provide a diagnostic answer and education for the patient and family
- provide strategies
Instead of ‘dementia’, what is usually diagnosed according to the DSM 5?
neurocognitive disorder
What is the first diagnostic criteria in major neurocognitive disorder?
evidence of significant cognitive decline from a previous level of performance
What is the second diagnostic criteria in major neurocognitive disorder?
Impairment needs to interfere with independence in everyday activities
What is the third diagnostic criteria in major neurocognitive disorder?
Cognitive deficits do not occur exclusively in the context of a delirium
What is the fourth diagnostic criteria in major neurocognitive disorder?
Cognitive deficits are not better explained by another rental disorder (e.g., MDD or schizophrenia)
What is the next step in diagnosing major neurocognitive disorder?
- specify type of dementia
- specify with or without behavioural disturbance
- specify if it produces milk difficulties with instrumental activities of daily living
What is cortical dementia?
Characterised by preferential neuronal loss to cortical regions of the brain
Involvement of the subcortical regions in dementia is rare, or if it does occur it occurs in:
late stages of the disease
What are some risk factors for dementia in early life?
less education (7%)
What are some risk factors for dementia in midlife?
- hearing loss
- hypertension
- alcohol
- obesity
- TBI
What are some risk factors for dementia in later life?
- smoking
- depression
- social isolation
- diabetes
- physical inactivity
Because of associated risk factors with dementia throughout life, what percentage of dementia is potentially modifiable?
40%
What percentage accounts for the risk unknown in dementia onset?
60%
Who first described Alzheimers disease?
Alois Alzheimer
How do we refer to AD as today?
an irreversible cortical progressive dementia
What were the symptoms of the first ever AD patient?
- hiding things
- severe behaviour change
- suspicious of husband
There is no single identifiable cause for AD. However:
- incidence increases with age (strongest predictor)
2. twice as many women develop AD
Average duration of AD is what?
8-10 years
What is the mean age of sporadic AD?
mean age of onset of 80 years
Familial Alzheimer’s is rare, but early onset AD at:
More than 50 years of age
What are the two key features of AD?
- the disease target specific regions of the brain
2. the disease targets structures which then sustain massive cell loss
Cortical atrophy in AD patients are more evident in:
frontal, temporal and parietal lobes
Cortical ___ results in ____ in AD patients:
thinning
ventricular enlargement
What are two histological markers of AD in the brain:
- amyloid/senile plaques
2. neurofibrillary tangles (TAU protein)
Neurofribillary tangles (as associated with AD) appear throughout the brain, but are disproportionately concentrated in which areas?
temporal parietal areas and hippocampal complex
Where are senile plaques (as involved in AD) mainly located?
most likely to concentrate in frontal and temporal regions of the brain and in the hippocampal complex