Growing old is a natural part of life. Our hair will turn gray and our skin will wrinkle. Our bones and muscles will weaken, and our blood vessels will get stiff. But many of us will also lose our minds, and that is something that's not supposed to happen.
There’s still a tendency to lump all dementia patients into what Nelson calls a “grab bag of Alzheimer’s disease.” Some older people who are experiencing impairments to their thinking, memory and judgment might not have Alzheimer's, but another form of dementia.
Most experts believe that dementia is not a normal part of aging and that it can somehow be stopped. For that day to come, a better understanding of the nuances of the dementia subtypes and their underlying pathologies is crucial, says Peter Nelson, a neuropathologist at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky.
How Common Is Dementia?
Half of people age 80 or older have some form of dementia. The older someone is, the more their risk goes up. Significant declines in brain function may seem inevitable because of how common it is.
