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Common versus uncommon causes of dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2005

Nicola T. Lautenschlager  and
Ralph N. Martins
Nicola T. Lautenschlager
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Australia
Ralph N. Martins
Affiliation:
Sir James McCusker Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, School of Biomedical and Sports Science, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, and School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Hollywood Private Hospital Nedlands, WA, Australia
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Abstract

When patients present with a dementia syndrome at a young age, the experienced clinician will automatically include uncommon dementias in the diagnostic considerations, as familial uncommon dementias due to genetic mutations frequently present as early-onset dementias. This paper highlights why uncommon dementias due to genetic mutations, although marginal in terms of prevalence numbers in the total population, are of significance in the quest to unravel the underlying cause of common dementias such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), frontotemporal dementias (FTD) and vascular dementia (VaD).

Keywords

geneticsrisk factorsenvironmentagingage at onsetheterogeneity
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 17 , Issue s1 , September 2005 , pp. S27 - S34
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2005

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