Dementia

Dementia is the significant loss of intellectual abilities such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning beyond what might be expected from normal aging.

Dementia is a non-specific illness syndrome (set of symptoms) in which affected areas of cognition may be memory, attention, language, and problem solving. Higher mental functions are affected first in the process. Especially in the later stages of the condition, affected persons may be disoriented in time (not knowing what day of the week, day of the month, month, or even what year it is), in place (not knowing where they are), and in person (not knowing who they are or others around them).

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. There are many other causes of dementia, including brain injury, brain tumors, thyroid disease (hypothyroidism), vascular dementia (damage to the blood vessels leading to the brain).