Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

When one thinks about dementia, the first thing that comes to mind is usually memory loss, or a person who becomes forgetful with age. However, dementia is not as simple as impairment in memory due to ageing, it is a holistic syndrome that causes disability and has impact virtually on every aspect in the patient’s life. And it doesn’t stop there. When a person becomes demented, it’ll affect their family’s life, their caregivers, who can be adults in productive age or even children. The effect of this syndrome is so extensive that, according to WHO, disability from dementia was accorded a higher disability weight than that for almost any other condition (including heart disease and cancer), with the exception of severe developmental disorders.

What is this dementia? How does it cause such extensive impact in people’s lives?