History
In 1906 German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer reported plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain of Auguste Deter, a woman in her fifties who had lost her memory and suffered delusions. The disease took his name and led to research on the amyloid hypothesis. Once dismissed as senility, dementia is now understood as brain disease. In 2017 Korea launched a national dementia-responsibility policy with dementia centers in every public-health district.
Types and early signs
Alzheimer's accounts for 60–70% of cases; others include vascular dementia after strokes, Lewy body dementia with hallucinations and parkinsonism, and frontotemporal dementia, where personality and language change first. Ordinary forgetfulness recovers with a cue; dementia erases the experience itself, with repeated questions, getting lost, money mistakes and personality change. Spotting the earlier stage, mild cognitive impairment, matters.
Prevention and treatment
The 2024 Lancet Commission estimated that addressing 14 risk factors—including hearing loss, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, inactivity, depression, diabetes, social isolation, high LDL cholesterol, vision loss and air pollution—could prevent or delay about 45% of cases. Drugs such as donepezil slow symptoms, and anti-amyloid antibodies like lecanemab are now used in early disease.
This article is general health information and is not a substitute for diagnosis or treatment. If symptoms persist, see a doctor.
FAQ
- How is dementia different from forgetfulness?
- Forgetfulness improves with a cue; dementia erases the experience and disrupts daily life.
- Is dementia inherited?
- Mostly age and lifestyle drive risk; strongly inherited forms such as early-onset familial Alzheimer's are rare.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- World Health Organization. (2023). Dementia (Fact sheet).
- Livingston, G., et al. (2024). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission. The Lancet, 404(10452), 572–628.
- 보건복지부·중앙치매센터. (2024). 대한민국 치매현황 2023.