Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia can start suddenly or begin slowly over time.

Symptoms include:

• slowness of thought
• difficulty with planning and understanding
• problems with concentration
• changes to your mood, personality or behaviour
• feeling disoriented and confused
• difficulty walking and keeping balance
• symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, such as problems with memory and language (many people with vascular dementia also have Alzheimer's disease)

These problems can make daily activities increasingly difficult and someone with the condition may eventually be unable to look after themselves.

There's currently no cure for vascular dementia and there's no way to reverse any loss of brain cells that happened before the condition was diagnosed.

But treatment can sometimes help slow down vascular dementia.

Treatment aims to tackle the underlying cause, which may reduce the speed at which brain cells are lost.

This will often involve:

• eating a healthy, balanced diet
• losing weight if you're overweight
• stopping smoking
• getting fit
• cutting down on alcohol
• taking medicines, such as those used to treat high blood pressure, lower cholesterol or prevent blood clots

Other treatments, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dementia activities (such as memory cafes) and psychological therapies, can help reduce the impact of any existing problems.

Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, which damages and eventually kills brain cells. 

This can happen as a result of:

• narrowing and blockage of the small blood vessels inside the brain
• a single stroke, where the blood supply to part of the brain is suddenly cut off
• lots of "mini strokes" (also called transient ischaemic attacks, or TIAs) that cause tiny but widespread damage to the brain

In many cases, these problems are linked to underlying conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and lifestyle factors, such as smoking and being overweight.

Tackling these might reduce your risk of vascular dementia in later life, although it's not yet clear exactly how much your risk of dementia can be reduced.

Symptoms of vascular dementia include confusion, slow thinking and changes in your mood or behaviour.

There's no cure for vascular dementia, but a healthy lifestyle and medicines for related problems, such as high blood pressure, may help slow it down.

Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. It can be a result of a stroke, or the narrowing of the blood vessels in the brain.