‘Less common’ dementias affect many people

Dening, Tom; Karim, Zarina; Davis, Laura

Abstract

t is always unsatisfactory to define things using negative terms, and this is certainly true of ‘less common’ or ‘uncommon’ or ‘rare’ dementias. It is much easier to say what we mean by the term ‘common dementias’, which is that Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia are responsible for the majority of cases. Estimates from different studies on the number and proportion of people with Alzheimer's or other dementias vary, depending on how each study was conducted (Alzheimer's Association, 2020). A typical estimate is that Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia are responsible for about 85% of all dementias (BRACE, 2021), in which case the proportion of non-Alzheimer and non-vascular dementias would be roughly about 15%. The term ‘less common dementias’ is not necessarily a scientific one, but is instead a more convenient way of banding together several diverse conditions that cause dementia, each with varying biological, anatomical and clinical aspects. There are also many aspects and causes of dementia that disappear into the medical small print, so it is difficult to say exactly how many forms of the condition there really are.

Citation

Dening, T., Karim, Z., & Davis, L. (2021). ‘Less common’ dementias affect many people. British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 17(2), 53-54. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjnn.2021.17.2.53

• Journal Article Type: Editorial
• Acceptance Date: Mar 25, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Apr 26, 2021
• Publication Date: Apr 2, 2021
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 3, 2021
• Journal: British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing
• Print ISSN: 1747-0307
• Electronic ISSN: 2052-2800
• Publisher: Mark Allen Healthcare
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 53-54
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12968/bjnn.2021.17.2.53
• Keywords: General Nursing; Clinical Neurology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5503824
• Publisher URL: https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjnn.2021.17.2.53
• Additional Information: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, copyright © MA Healthcare, after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjnn.2021.17.2.53