The evaluation and diagnosis of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: The update

Abstract

Dementia is a common condition in clinical practice. Its prevalence has been on the rise, due to the rapidincrease of elderly population. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. Patients always had cognitiveimpairment in many aspects which impact their daily livings. Therefore, proper evaluation and diagnosis are very important inthe patient’s care. Certain systemic and psychiatric diseases need to be excluded prior the diagnosis of neurodegenerativedisease. Further investigation is often needed for specific diagnosis according to the standard criteria for each disease.During the past decade, the criteria have been changed significantly due to better understandings in their pathophysiology.Biological markers are incooperated to aid in earlier diagnosis. This will eventually hasten the research and development formore effective treatment, or at least slowing the disease progression.

Key word: Dementia, Alzheimer‘s disease, Evaluation, Diagnostic criteria