Over the past year and half, I’ve written a number of posts about dementia and Alzheimer’s and, I confess, am guilty of using the two interchangeably and I hope to rectify this confusion here and now.

Don’t they both describe the same conditions? In many ways yes, but there is one distinct difference, as this report states:

“In essence, dementia is an overall term used to categorize a group of symptoms and has no definitive diagnosis. This means it is not a disease, but rather a syndrome that has a negative effect on our cognition. At least 47.6 million people are diagnosed with dementia globally.”

“There’s a chance that a person can have more than one type of dementia and we call this condition ‘mixed dementia.’ This, however, can only be confirmed through an autopsy. Dementia has raised alarms many times before since it is one of the most common causes of disability for older people.”

“Meanwhile, Alzheimer’s disease is a common mental health condition that falls under the dementia umbrella. About 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases are caused by Alzheimer’s. It is considered to be a progressive disease which causes memory impairment and a decline in our ability to process and understand knowledge. Five million people in the U.S. alone have Alzheimer’s disease and the number continues to grow.”

Does that help? Think of it this way – it’s like the difference between the terms ‘automobile’ and ‘Ford – Chevrolet, Buick, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, Jeep, etc.’. Automobile is an umbrella terms for many types of motorized modes of transportation that includes many different makes and models.

The main types of conditions that fall under the dementia umbrella include: Alzheimer’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, mixed dementia, normal pressure hydrocephalus, Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, among others.

Ford is a specific make of automobile and like Alzheimer’s, has different models.

The different models of Alzheimer’s are:

Early-onset Alzheimer’s – generally occurring in people younger than 65 – often occurring in people in their 40s and 50s.

Late-onset Alzheimer’s – occurs in people 65 and older and is the most common occurring form.

Familial Alzheimer’s – is when there is a genetic cause. This is usually the case with many early-onset cases, but makes up less than 1% of all cases of Alzheimer’s.

I stand corrected and promise to do my best to never confuse or interchange the terms every again and in the future, I may write posts on each of the different forms of dementia listed above, if you’re interested. If so, please let us know.