5Vascular Dementia Versus Alzheimer’s Disease
Both vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are a type of dementia. While many symptoms are similar, they have many significant differences. Alzheimer’s disease is not triggered by stroke like vascular dementia. The exact cause of this condition is still unclear, but scientists have found out that the risk tends to increase with age. In fact, vascular issues like hypertension, high cholesterol, and stroke are related to vascular dementia, but not linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
As for symptoms, Alzheimer’s disease would lead to memory problems. However, the early stages are characterized by other signs like spatial troubles, word finding, or vision issues. In vascular dementia, memory issues typically occur in the earliest stages.
While Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia are different, you can have both conditions at the same time. It is estimated that around 10 percent of reported cases have mixed dementia. In these cases, they tend to show symptoms of both forms.[5]
