Types of Dementia

Dementia is a group of symptoms associated with a decline of brain function. This includes symptoms such as memory loss, language difficulties, using words incorrectly and problems with understanding, etc.

BRACE can fund research into any type of dementia, and research grants in recent years have focused on four main areas. These include Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia. 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. 

For a while, there has been a common, widespread misconception about the term “Alzheimer’s”, which has wrongly been used to describe all types of memory-related conditions. Although Alzheimer’s is the most prevalent type of dementia accounting for about 60-75% of dementia cases, it is important to note that it is not the only one.