The term dementia is used to describe symptoms that are usually caused by changes in the normal activity of very sensitive brain cells. Dementia seriously interferes with a person's ability to carry out daily activities. Two common causes of dementia in older people are Alzheimer's disease and multi-infarct dementia. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in older persons. Alzheimer's disease develops when nerve cells in the brain die.
Symptoms begin slowly and become steadily worse.
At this time, no one knows what causes the nerve cells to die, and there is no cure for the disease. The second most common cause of dementia in older people is multi-infarct dementia. Multi-infarct dementia usually affects people between the ages of 60 and 75. Men are slightly more likely than women to have multi-infarct dementia. Multi-infarct dementia is caused by a series of strokes that damage or destroy brain tissue.