Dementia is an umbrella term for a variety of degenerative brain disorders, which lead to loss of memory, judgment and reasoning, as well as changes in mood and behaviour. The most common types of dementia afflicting Canadians are:
Alzheimer’s disease: is a progressive, degenerative disorder that destroys brain cells and is eventually fatal. It is most often diagnosed in people over 65, but can affect adults at an earlier age. Alzheimer’s accounts for 64 per cent of all dementia cases in Canada
Vascular dementia: The result of brain cells being deprived of oxygen and dying due to a blockage or disease in blood vessels that supply the brain. Vascular dementia is the second leading form of dementia, accounting for up to 20 per cent of all cases. When it occurs along with Alzheimer’s, the condition is called “mixed dementia.”
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Lewy body dementia: Caused by abnormal deposits of a protein inside the brain’s nerve cells, which interrupt the brain’s messaging system. The deposits, named “Lewy bodies” after the scientist who first described them, usually affect areas of the brain involved in thinking and movement. Lewy body dementia can occur by itself or together with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. It accounts for five to 15 per cent of all dementias.
Frontotemporal dementia: Tends to occur at a younger age than Alzheimer’s disease, but also involves a progressive degeneration of brain cells. But unlike Alzheimer’s, which generally affects most areas of the brain, this type of dementia primarily affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain – areas generally associated with personality and behaviour. An affected person may have such symptoms as sudden onset of memory loss, behaviour changes or difficulties with speech and movement. Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein was reportedly diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, which makes up an estimated two to five per cent of all dementia cases in Canada.
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Pick’s disease: A subtype of frontotemporal dementia, characterized by brain cells becoming larger and containing round, silver “Pick’s bodies.” It was Pick’s disease that led to the death of Gordie Howe’s wife Colleen in March 2009.
Other dementias: Include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal form caused by infectious proteins called prions; Parkinson’s disease, typically marked by movement disorders, causes dementia in a significant proportion of patients in later stages of the disease; Huntington’s disease, an inherited disorder that causes certain brain cells to waste away.
Source: Alzheimer Society of Canada
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