Question

What is the difference between dementia and delirium? What key characteristics/outcomes are important to differentiate between the two?

Answer 1

Dementia is the progressive deterioration of brain functioning occurring after the completion of brain maturation in adolescence, characterized by deficits in memory, abstract thinking, acquisition of new knowledge or skills, visuospatial comprehension, motor control, problem solving and judgment.

In Dementia of Alzheimer's type the onset is in middle and old age.

Delirium is a state of mental confusion characterized by relatively rapid onset of widespread disorganization of the higher mental processes, caused by a generalized disturbance in brain metabolism. It may include impaired, perception, memory and thinking and abnormal psychomotor activity.

The main difference is that dementia develops over sometime and delirium occurs abruptly with symptoms fluctuating during the day. The feature differentiating delirium from underlying dementia is inattention.