Scientist explained which types of dementia erase personality faster

Alzheimer's disease can progress in a hidden form for years, while vascular dementia and the rare Pick's disease progress rapidly. This was told to "Gazeta.Ru" by Valery Litvinov, Candidate of Medical Sciences.

The scientist noted that recognizing dementia in its early stages is quite difficult, as patients' behavior partly resembles ordinary absent-mindedness. However, there are still 10 key signs of the ailment.

"Among them: frequent forgetfulness, difficulties with planning and concentration, speech problems, disorientation in time and space, loss of common sense, difficulties with logical tasks, sharp mood swings, personality changes, apathy, and moving objects to unexpected places," the expert reminded.

The specialist reminded that different types of dementia require different amounts of time to destroy a person's body and personality. For instance, Alzheimer's disease - the most common type - can progress for years in a hidden form. According to Litvinov, it usually takes five to six years from the first symptoms to the severe stage.

"After dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, the next most common are vascular (15-20%) and alcoholic (5-10%). The first type can develop within a year after a stroke and progress rapidly. In this case, nerve cells die due to impaired cerebral circulation, but without the accumulation of abnormal proteins," the scientist explained.

With alcoholic dementia, the death of neurons is provoked by ethanol itself, contained in alcoholic beverages. The disease develops over 10 years.

"Rare types of dementia are of great interest to science and medicine. The problem is that they can only be diagnosed after the patient's death. For example, the poorly studied Pick's disease. It belongs to frontotemporal dementias. Unlike Alzheimer's disease, in this case, memory does not decline, but speech is impaired to the point of complete breakdown," explained the PNIPU expert.

According to the scientist from Perm Polytechnic, this type progresses rapidly - over five to ten years (in severe forms over two to three years) and changes the patient's behavior beyond recognition. Pick's dementia can be combined with alcoholism, while alcoholism can be a manifestation of behavioral disorders and not be characteristic of the patient before the development of dementia. Such combinations severely aggravate existing mental disorders.