Dementia

Abstract

The syndrome of dementia is characterized by progressive chronic deterioration of intellectual function. The term dementia implies organic dysfunction of brain cells producing poor memory; impaired judgement; decreased attention; and loss of arithmetic, reasoning, and problem-solving abilities. Some use the term presenile dementia to refer to any dementing process beginning before age 65; others restrict the term to a specific illness—Alzheimer’s disease. Since the term presenile has various meanings for different people, and because age 65 has no biological significance, we will not use it.