• Home
  1. Home
  2. Mixed dementia: epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment
Scientific article
Review
English

Mixed dementia: epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment

Contributors

Zekry Berger, Dina Selma; Hauw, Jean-Jacques; Gold, Gabriel

Published in

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 50, no. 8, p. 1431-1438

Publication date

2002

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) are the most frequent causes of dementia in older people. Although AD can be diagnosed with a considerable degree of accuracy, the distinction between isolated AD, VaD, and mixed dementia (MD), where both pathologies coexist in the same patient, remains a controversial issue and one of the most difficult diagnostic challenges. Although MD represents a very frequent pathology, especially in older people, as reported in neuropathological studies, the respective importance of degenerative and vascular lesions, their interaction in the genesis of dementia, and the mere existence of MD are still debated. Accurate diagnosis of MD is of crucial significance for epidemiological purposes and for preventive and therapeutic strategies. Until recently, pharmacological studies have generally focused on pure disease, AD or VaD, and have provided little information on the best therapeutic approach to MD. This article provides an overview of MD in older people. A retrospective review of the recent literature on prevalence, incidence, course, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment of MD was performed. The article also emphasizes the need for further studies, including neuropsychological and functional evaluations, and neuroimaging and clinicopathological correlations to develop a better understanding of MD, which appears to be one of the most common forms of dementia.

Keywords

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy
  • Comorbidity
  • Dementia/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy
  • Dementia, Vascular/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Prevalence
  • Risk Factors

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

ZEKRY BERGER, Dina Selma, HAUW, Jean-Jacques, GOLD, Gabriel. Mixed dementia: epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment. In: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2002, vol. 50, n° 8, p. 1431–1438. doi: 10.1046/j.1532-5415.2002.50367.x

Main files (1)

Article (Published version)

Identifiers

Additional URL for this publication

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1532-5415.2002.50367.x/abstract

Journal ISSN

0002-8614
698views
0downloads

Technical informations

Creation

26/11/2013 23:34:00

First validation

26/11/2013 23:34:00

Update

12/03/2026 11:02:37

Status update

12/03/2026 11:02:37

Last indexation

12/03/2026 11:06:12
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of Geneva
OpenAIRE Indexed & Validated