Causes of dementia

The causes of dementia are those factors that provoke the occurrence of this pathology. Dementia usually always occurs when a person’s brain cells become damaged, leading to neurodegeneration. This process can be natural, caused by the aging of the human body, or pathological, arising from various pathological processes, leading to accelerated destruction of neurons and, as a result, to a decrease in mental abilities with all the ensuing consequences.

Occurrence by type of dementia

The process of damage to brain cells occurs due to the deposition of pathological protein compounds in their structure. Each type of dementia is caused by certain types of protein compounds. In some cases, experts talk about familial types of Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia.

For Alzheimer’s disease

The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. In this case, atrophy of the gray matter of the cerebral cortex is due to accumulations of a specific protein in the form of amyloid plaques or tangles.

Brain cells during these processes lose the ability to interact with each other and transmit information. As a result, there are symptoms of a malfunction in the activity of the human cerebral cortex. In parallel with this, accumulations of proteins also negatively affect neurotransmitters – chemicals that are responsible in the body for conducting a nerve impulse.

Development with Lewy bodies

Pathological protein, which is called the Lewy body, is able to accumulate in the cytoplasm of nerve brain cells. Lewy bodies tend to disrupt the process of nerve impulse conduction by destroying acetylcholine and dopamine, those main neurotransmitters that are responsible for cognitive functions in the brain: memory, motivation, attention, learning ability, mood. Violation of the metabolic processes of dopamine contributes to the parallel development, along with dementia with Lewy bodies, of some symptoms of Parkinson’s disease – tremor of the limbs, stiffness of the body during movement, and others.

Frontotemporal dementia

The frontotemporal type of dementia occurs when the cortex atrophies in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. In 20% of cases of this pathology, there is a hereditary factor, and this type of dementia most often develops not in old age, but in the period up to 65 years, which indicates a predisposition to this disease in young people.

Frontotemporal dementia progresses very quickly, neurodegeneration occurs in a spasmodic pattern, in this case, the symptoms of cognitive impairment can be very serious and difficult to proceed.

Vascular dementia

When the blood supply to the brain cells is disturbed, a type of pathology such as vascular dementia is provoked. This is due to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain due to arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus or atherosclerotic changes.

All of the above diseases must be treated in parallel with the treatment of dementia, since all of them can cause attacks that lead to severe consequences – strokes, for example. In very difficult cases, with an exacerbation of the disease, which is the root cause, even a lethal outcome of a patient with vascular dementia is possible.

Psychological causes of dementia

Neuroticism in middle-aged people increases the risk of developing dementia in old age. Experts came to this conclusion after conducting a study of 800 women for as long as 38 years. By neuroticism, experts mean anxiety, restlessness and gloom. Those people who are characterized by neuroticism are prone to jealousy, depression, envy, long periods of stress throughout their lives. Also, already at a young age, neurotic people experience memory problems, which are a direct harbinger of the development of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease in later periods.

Of the 800 women studied during this period, 63 suffered from increased neuroticism. As a result, 25% of them (16 of those 63) developed Alzheimer’s disease in old age. This does not mean that neuroticism is a direct sign of senile dementia in youth, since those who did not suffer from increased neuroticism also had these processes, but 50% less often (only 8 out of 64). However, it is evidence that at the risk of developing dementia in certain people, in addition to heredity, chronic diseases, injuries, intelligence level, individual personality characteristics should also be taken into account, which reflect a person’s response to stress, and in the future – to individual dementia.

Medications that cause disease

One of the causes of dementia may be the use of certain drugs that enhance degenerative cellular processes in the human brain.

Such medicines include:

• anticholinergics to combat insomnia;
• anticholinergic drugs for allergies;
• benzodiazepines (antidepressants).

Anticholinergics for insomnia, such as Nitol, Sominex, increase the possibility of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists from Washington for 8 years studied this issue, and came to disappointing conclusions – with the regular use of high doses of anticholinergic drugs, the risk of developing dementia increases by 54%, and Alzheimer’s disease – by 63%. Anticholinergic drugs for allergies, such as Diphenhydramine and all its possible analogues under other trade names, similarly provoke the risk of developing dementia.

Frequent and excessive use of benzodiazepines in the form of drugs for anxiety and depression leads to a 50% increased risk of developing dementia in old age. Scientists from France obtained such data empirically in 2012, and even earlier, in 2009, American specialists came to the same conclusions after many years of monitoring patients who often take benzodiazepines as a sedative.

An important piece of advice in the event of any signs of disease is the need for a medical examination and prescription of therapy, and not self-medication from the nearest pharmacy, which is common among many.

Possible risk factors for dementia

Dementia or dementia, in addition to various diseases, hereditary and genetic factors, can also occur due to external pathological processes that complicate cognitive functions.

Such processes include alcoholism, prolonged depression, infectious diseases (encephalitis, tuberculosis, HIV infection), trauma or oncology of the brain, beriberi (especially with B vitamins), chronic brain hypoxia due to bronchial asthma or heart pathologies, lack of synthesis of some thyroid hormones.

Dementia in these pathologies is distinguished by the possibility of effective therapy until complete recovery, ease of flow, in comparison with other causes of its occurrence, and stopping the progression of the disease with timely relief of the provoking factor of its development.

Causes of dementia in young people

Dementia in young adults is commonly referred to in medical circles as juvenile dementia. There are a lot of reasons for it, many of them are due to the presence of other pathological processes that provoke this disease.

Nearly a third of all cases of juvenile dementia are due to the development of Alzheimer’s disease in young people. In the modern world, cases of severe cardiovascular pathologies, such as heart attacks and strokes, are also very young, which also often lead to the development of dementia, which is expressed by speech disorders, a decrease in the ability to remember and learn, and other factors.

The cardiovascular cause of dementia is characteristic of 20% of all young people suffering from the disease.

Frontotemporal dementia, the most famous representative of which is Pick’s disease, also causes the development of dementia after the age of 45 years. During its development, brain neurons in the frontal and temporal lobes of the cortex die. The symptomatology of the disease directly depends on the affected area: when the frontal lobe is affected, the emotional and behavioral characteristics are disturbed, and when the temporal lobe is affected, the speech functions of a person are disturbed.

In 10% of cases of dementia in young people, it occurs due to the use of alcohol or drugs. The manifestation of alcohol and drug dementia is characterized by Korsakov’s syndrome – a lack of vitamin B1 due to the abuse of alcohol and drugs. At the same time, the patient is characterized by memory lapses and problems with the susceptibility of new information. If such dementia is detected at the initial stage, it can be tried to slow down with high doses of vitamin B1.

Dementia in young people can also occur due to brain injury, due to impaired functioning of thyroid hormones (metabolic type of disease), due to degenerative diseases that are caused by the death of brain cells (dementia with Lewy bodies, corticobasal degeneration, Huntington’s chorea, supranuclear progressive paralysis).

All the reasons why dementia may occur must be carefully diagnosed, since the effectiveness of dementia therapy and its benign course will depend on this.

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