Early onset dementia explained

Early onset dementia is dementia in which symptoms first appear before the age of 65. The term favored until about 2000 was presenile dementia; young onset dementia is also used.

Early onset dementia may be caused by degenerative or vascular disease, or it may be due to other causes, such as alcohol-related dementia and other inflammatory or infectious processes. Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia and frontotemporal lobar degeneration are the most common forms of early onset dementia, with Alzheimer's accounting for between 30 and 40%.^[1] Early onset dementia may also occur, less frequently, in the Lewy body dementias (dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease dementia), multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease and other conditions.^[2]

Further reading

• Collins JD, Henley SM, Suárez-González A . A systematic review of the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and apathy in frontotemporal dementia, atypical and young-onset Alzheimer's disease, and inherited dementia . Int Psychogeriatr . 1–20 . July 2020 . 32684177 . 10.1017/S1041610220001118 . 220653830 . Review.
• Ducharme S, Dols A, Laforce R, et al . Recommendations to distinguish behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia from psychiatric disorders . Brain . 143 . 6 . 1632–1650 . June 2020 . 32129844 . 7849953 . 10.1093/brain/awaa018 . Review.
• Nwadiugwu M . Early-onset dementia: key issues using a relationship-centred care approach . Postgrad Med J . 97 . 1151 . 598–604 . September 2021 . 32883770 . 8408578 . 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138517 . Review.
• Roman de Mettelinge T, Calders P, Cambier D . The Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Patients with Early-Onset Dementia: A Scoping Review . Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord . 50 . 1 . 9–16 . 2021 . 33957623 . 10.1159/000516231 . 233983643 . Review. free .

Notes and References

1. Quach C, Hommet C, Mondon K, Lauvin MA, Cazals X, Cottier JP . Early-onset dementias: Specific etiologies and contribution of MRI . Diagn Interv Imaging . 95 . 4 . 377–98 . April 2014 . 24007775 . 10.1016/j.diii.2013.07.009 . Review. free .
2. Rossor MN, Fox NC, Mummery CJ, Schott JM, Warren JD . The diagnosis of young-onset dementia . Lancet Neurol . 9 . 8 . 793–806 . August 2010 . 20650401 . 2947856 . 10.1016/S1474-4422(10)70159-9 . Review.