Dementia - Causes and Types

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Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common Dementia diagnosis among older adults. Alzheimer’s Dementia is typically associated with abnormal buildups of proteins in the brain — known as amyloid plaques and tau tangles — along with a loss of connection 

among nerve cells.   

Vascular Dementia, a diagnosis of dementia in people who have vascular changes in the brain, such as a stroke or injury to small vessels carrying blood to the brain. People diagnosed with a Vascular Dementia may also show changes in the brain’s white matter, i.e., the connecting "wires" of the brain that relay messages between regions. 

Mixed Dementia, which refers to a diagnosis of Dementia that is thought to be connected to a mixture of changes in the brain. For example, 

a person might have evidence of changes traditionally associated with Alzheimer’s, Levy Body Dementia and Vascular Dementia. 

Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), which is rare and tends to occur in people younger than 60. FTD is named for the areas of the brain affected. Changes in the frontal lobe lead to behavioral symptoms, whereas changes in the temporal lobe lead to problems with language and emotions. These changes include abnormal amounts or forms of the proteins tau and 

TDP-43, and the loss of nerve cells.

Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), with symptoms that include problems with thinking, movement, behavior, and mood. People with LBD have abnormal deposits of a protein called 

alpha-synuclein in the brain,

 also called Lewy bodies.