Types of Dementia

There are various types or causes of dementia. It is possible for someone to have a combination of these types, which can make an accurate diagnosis more difficult.

BRACE can fund research into any type of dementia and research grants in recent years have focused on the four most common types – Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia. Please see separate listings below for more information about these.

Other types include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Wernicke-Korsakoff’s dementia, and the dementias related to Parkinson’s disease or Huntington’s disease. Patients may also have mixed dementia, where more than one type is present.

It has been common for many years to use the word “Alzheimer’s” to refer to all forms of dementia, and the largest charities dedicated to combating dementia have tended to use “Alzheimer’s” in their name. However, this is like referring to the United Kingdom as Great Britain; it is most of it, but not all. There are over 100 different types of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60-70% of cases.

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