Learn about dementia, its stages, symptoms, care strategies, and how to support patients and their families.
What is Dementia?
Dementia is a chronic or progressive syndrome that impairs cognitive functions such as memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language, and judgment beyond normal aging. Consciousness is not affected. Dementia may be accompanied by changes in emotional control, social behavior, or motivation.
It results from diseases or injuries affecting the brain, such as Alzheimer’s or stroke. Dementia significantly impacts patients, caregivers, and families and often faces stigma and lack of awareness.
Symptoms
Dementia affects each person differently. Symptoms are divided into three stages:
Early stage: gradual onset, easily overlooked
- Forgetfulness
- Losing track of time
- Getting lost in familiar places
Middle stage: clearer and more restrictive symptoms
- Forgetting recent events and names
- Getting lost at home
- Difficulty communicating
- Needing help with personal care
- Behavior changes, such as wandering or repeated questions
Late stage: near total dependence
- Disorientation to time and place
- Difficulty recognizing relatives and friends
- Increased need for assisted self-care
- Difficulty walking
- Behavior changes, including aggression
Dementia Rates
- Around 50 million people worldwide have dementia
- Nearly 60% live in low- and middle-income countries
- Nearly 10 million new cases each year
- Estimated prevalence in people aged ≥60: 5–8%
Treatment and Care
There is no cure for dementia. Care aims to:
- Promote early diagnosis and optimal management
- Optimize physical health, cognition, activity, and well-being
- Identify and treat accompanying illnesses
- Manage behavioral and psychological symptoms
Advice for caregivers:
- Set a positive mood for interactions
- Get the person’s attention
- State messages clearly
- Ask simple, answerable questions
- Listen with ears, eyes, and heart
- Break activities into steps
- When challenges arise, distract or redirect the person
