Dementia

Dementia and neurological conditions leading to dementia have had an increasing impact on healthcare and healthcare planning around the world in recent decades. This chapter aims to situate dementia into a context suitable for students, practitioners and researchers in the field of communication sciences and disorders. The dementia categories most commonly referred to both in the media and the scientific literature are irreversible dementias. Patterns of progressive neurological changes that are typically associated with different diseases leading to dementia involve changes both within and between brain cells, such as abnormal protein deposits. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration gives rise to several types of dementia. Vascular dementia is caused by deficits in blood supply resulting in cell death. Dementia rating scales are used as part of diagnostic assessment, and in order to track and quantify the progression of dementia severity.