Question:
I have some questions related to activities for dementia. Can anyone give me some suggestions???

1/ How can you tell if someone suffers from dementia?

2/ What causes dementia?

3/ Who is most likely to suffer from dementia?

I have searched for many time but don't find much useful information.Can anyone give me short and full answers or sources of information to help me???

Answer: 1/ Dementia is a clinical diagnosis made by a physician. Although thereare a number of different checklists available, the "Diagnostic andStatistical Manual-IV" is the most widely accepted list of criteria fordementia. A patient, who has an acquired problem of memory, cognitiveability, and problems with functional abilities, may have a dementiasyndrome. The patient must not have a confusional state, such asdelirium or drug intoxication, at the time of diagnosis. A skilledphysician can apply these criteria to detect the presence of dementia,but some physicians may be far more skilled than others in this regard.

2/ There are over 60 different causes of the dementia syndrome, withAlzheimer's disease being the most common.

3/ The elderly, those with family histories of dementia, and those withstroke risk factors. Often it is assumed that women are moresusceptible to dementia than men. This is not quite true. However,since on average women live longer than men and dementia is age-related, more women live long enough to get dementia, than men. Inaddition, some preliminary evidence suggests that estrogen; a hormoneproduced naturally in greater amounts in women than in men may helpprevent dementia. This had not yet been proven, but is currently understudy in the Women's Health Initiative-Memory Study, a large nation-wide clinical trial directed by Dr. Sally A. Shumaker at the WakeForest University School of Medicine.