Vascular Dementia
Original Editor - Lucinda hampton
Top Contributors - Lucinda hampton and Kim Jackson
Introduction[edit | edit source]
Vascular dementia is a heterogeneous category of brain disorders that cause cognitive impairment, and are attributable to cerebrovascular pathologies. It is responsible for at least 20% of cases of dementia, second in occurrence following Alzheimer’s disease[1][2]. It usually occurs in patients with atherosclerosis and chronic hypertension that over time cause multiple white matter lesions or cortical infarcts. Patients with vascular dementia have a shortened life expectancy.[3]
Epidemiology[edit | edit source]
Incidence is hard to discover but is strongly matched with age, occurring in 1% of patients greater than 55 years and in greater than 4% of patients over 71 years. To add to this uncertainty Alzheimer disease often co-occurs with vascular dementia. Also accelerated vascular changes occur in some people due to specific underlying disease not shown on vascular dementia studies.[3] Risk factors for the development of vascular dementia include hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and tobacco use.[2]
Pathophysiology[edit | edit source]
Vascular dementia is an integral part of Alzheimer's and other geriatric neurodegenerative conditions associated with dementia, Vascular dementias all have a similar pathogenic origins, resulting from hypoperfusion, oxidative stress and inflammation, all contributing to hemispheric white matter alterations. Demyelination and axonal loss plays a role in the wide ranging functional brain changes underlying cognitive impairment and in the associated atrophy of the cerebral hemispheres.[1]
Prevention[edit | edit source]
Vascular dementia can be prevented by treating the risk factors eg. diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and hyperlipidemia, with blood pressure control being critical. Mant studies proving that using antihypertensive medications reduces the risk of vascular dementia. [2]
Management[edit | edit source]
Dementias have no single treatments, with the focus being on treating individual risk factors (e.g. hypertension, smoking, hypercoagulation, atherosclerosis).[3]
For more information see Dementia
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References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Iadecola C. The pathobiology of vascular dementia. Neuron. 2013 Nov 20;80(4):844-66. Available:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842016/ (accessed 15.1.2023)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Uwagbai O, Kalish VB. Vascular dementia. InStatPearls [Internet] 2022 Jan 14. StatPearls Publishing. Available:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430817/ (accessed 15.1.2023)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Radiopedia Vascular dementia Available:https://radiopaedia.org/articles/vascular-dementia (accessed 15.1.2023)
