Dementia vs. Alzheimer’s Disease: Are They the Same?

It’s natural to lose some cognitive function as we age. Maybe we forget where we put our keys or we can’t come up with the name of that one actress. But even as we grow older, there are telling behavioral, physical and mental signs that cognitive decline is occurring at a faster and more severe rate. When this happens, we begin talking about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease as a potential cause.

But these terms, although related, often get confused with one another. Neuropsychologist Aaron Bonner-Jackson, PhD, explains what we’re really talking about when we discuss dementia vs. Alzheimer’s, how they’re connected and how to use this information.

What’s the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease?

A lot of people use dementia and Alzheimer’s interchangeably — even medical professionals, says Dr. Bonner-Jackson. Though commonly linked to one another, they’re not always associated with every case of cognitive decline. “Dementia” is the overarching term used to describe a group of symptoms that affect your cognitive abilities, while Alzheimer’s is a specific type and cause of dementia.

“There are a variety of conditions that can cause dementia, and the most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease,” he explains. “That’s why they’re used interchangeably — because so often, the cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s.”

Dementia

“Dementia” is an umbrella term that describes a situation in which someone has a significant decline in their thinking abilities like memory, problem-solving or communication. Dementia is more than just forgetting a word here or there. Dementia looks more like having difficulty maintaining a conversation or forgetting the name of a familiar face you’ve known for months or even years.

“The decline with dementia is more than what we’d expect for their age,” clarifies Dr. Bonner-Jackson. “That decline results in difficulty managing their daily activities like taking care of themselves, driving, remembering to pay the bills or remembering to take their medications.”

There are a variety of different causes of dementia, some of which start to present earlier in life and have overlapping symptoms of general cognitive decline. But many causes have their own set of markers that make them unique.

Frontal-temporal dementia, for example, can cause drastic changes in a person’s behavior or personality. They might act more impulsively than usual, spend egregious amounts of money or blurt out rude or inappropriate comments — behaviors that would be considered highly unusual for the person who’s developed this condition.

Primary progressive aphasia, on the other hand, is more related to language. “Someone with primary progressive aphasia might have trouble coming up with words, naming things, getting words out fluently or understanding what other people are saying,” Dr. Bonner-Jackson explains.

These are but just a couple of the many causes of dementia, making cognitive testing ever more critical.

“Usually, we require more thorough neurological examinations to differentiate between these symptoms and find the underlying cause of someone’s dementia,” he continues.

Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause and type of dementia. With Alzheimer’s, nerve cells in your brain begin to die as a result of being disrupted by excess plaques and twisted fibers caused by a buildup of amyloid and tau proteins in the brain. These plaques tend to form during the early stages of Alzheimer’s around the hippocampus — the part of your brain that controls memory — before progressively spreading to other areas of your brain and causing further damage.

“Generally, the first symptom of Alzheimer’s is short-term memory loss or the inability to remember recent events or conversations. Someone may repeat themselves, asking the same question over and over. They may have difficulty remembering names of familiar people, friends or family members,” Dr. Bonner-Jackson explains.

Although Alzheimer’s is only one cause of dementia, there are diagnostic tests available to determine the presence of the disease by looking for specific neurological markers.

“We can test for certain proteins in someone’s cerebral spinal fluid to get a more definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s,” he adds. “We also have specialized brain scans called positron emission tomography (PET) scans that can look for the presence of certain proteins in the person’s brain.”

Why this matters

Dementia — whether it’s hereditary, caused by Alzheimer’s or something else — isn’t preventable and there isn’t a cure. But you can work to reduce some of your risks for developing dementia by focusing on maintaining your brain health and solving for other conditions that increase your risk for dementia like hearing loss, vision loss, diabetes or heart disease.

“We can’t do anything about our family history or our genetics, but we can do something to improve lifestyle factors and try to maintain good habits that positively impact our physical and mental health,” encourages Dr. Bonner-Jackson. “Doing so could either reduce our risk for dementia or delay the onset of any symptoms for years. That’s the goal.”