Changing perspectives regarding late-life dementia
Majid Fotuhi, Vladimir Hachinski & Peter J. Whitehouse
Published online: 17 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nrneurol.2009.175
The view of cognitive impairment in elderly individuals has evolved over the centuries, from a normal inevitable part of aging, through demonic possession and hardening of blood vessels, to Alzheimer disease. As Fotuhi et al. discuss in this article, individuals over 80 years of age rarely have 'pure Alzheimer disease' or 'pure vascular dementia'. The authors present a new framework, known as the dynamic polygon hypothesis, which reflects the complex interplay of factors that contribute to cognitive impairment in the oldest old.
