Differences between the diseases
Development
Alzheimer’s disease and senile dementia are very related and similar. The first thing that distinguishes them is that the development of senile dementia is triggered [9] precisely by Alzheimer’s disease (or other neurodegenerative diseases). This means that dementia can be a symptom of other diseases while Alzheimer’s disease can even be the trigger for the development of dementia.
The difference between these syndromes is also in their development rate. Usually, Alzheimer’s disease slowly affects neurons, while senile dementia can develop very quickly in the human body. In Alzheimer’s disease, short-term memory is the first to suffer. The disease develops slowly [10] and can take several years. But memory degradation happens steadily. This is however not true with dementia that happens almost suddenly.
In dementia (e.g. vascular dementia) some part of the brain is destroyed [11]. Therefore, deterioration occurs suddenly, more abruptly, and proceeds in stages. In the future, with proper therapy and rehabilitation, dementia may not worsen, and in some cases even be compensated. Healthy brain cells take on the burden of damaged cells. This is where vascular dementia differs from Alzheimer’s, in which worsening is usually slow and persistent.