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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffVascular dementia is a general term describing problems with reasoning, planning, judgment, memory and other thought processes caused by brain damage from impaired blood flow to your brain.
You can develop vascular dementia after a stroke blocks an artery in your brain, but strokes don't always cause vascular dementia. Whether a stroke affects your thinking and reasoning depends on your stroke's severity and location. Vascular dementia also can result from other conditions that damage blood vessels and reduce circulation, depriving your brain of vital oxygen and nutrients.
Factors that increase your risk of heart disease and stroke — including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking — also raise your vascular dementia risk. Controlling these factors can help lower your chances of developing vascular dementia.
- Dementia: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dementias/detail_dementia.htm. Accessed March 6, 2011.
- Middleton LE, et al. Promising strategies for prevention of dementia. Archives of Neurology. 2009;66:1210.
- Rockwood K, et al. The inclusion of cognition in vascular risk factor clinical practice guidelines. Clinical Interventions in Aging. 2009;4:425.
- Vascular dementia. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/professionals_and_researchers_13517.asp. Accessed March 4, 2011.
- Mixed dementia. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/professionals_and_researchers_13516.asp. Accessed March 4, 2011.
- Wright CB. Etiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnosis of vascular dementia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 15, 2011.
- Wright CB. Treatment and prevention of vascular dementia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 15, 2011.
- Neurological diagnostic tests and procedures. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/misc/diagnostic_tests.htm. Accessed March 9, 2011.
- Carotid ultrasound. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/cu/cu_all.html. Accessed March 9, 2011.
- Aricept: Highlights of prescribing information. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2010/022568s004,020690s033,021720s006lbl.pdf. Accessed March 9, 2011.
- Medications for memory loss. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_standard_prescriptions.asp. Accessed March 9, 2011.
- Caring for a person with Alzheimer's disease. National Institute on Aging. http://www.nia.nih.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E0F45395-A473-4B26-8F7E-86F4314405CE/0/CaringGuide.pdf. Accessed March 9, 2011.
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