Dementia syndromes
Telling Alzheimer, vascular, Lewy body and frontotemporal dementia apart, cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine on the PBS, anti-amyloid antibodies and ARIA, and managing behavioural symptoms without harm.
Tier 1Condition
Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Dementia is acquired cognitive decline in one or more domains that interferes with independent function. About 430,000 Australians live with it.
- Alzheimer disease causes most cases; mixed Alzheimer and vascular pathology is the norm in older people.
- Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine give modest symptomatic benefit. Anti-amyloid antibodies slow early Alzheimer disease modestly, at the cost of ARIA, monitoring and expense.
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Sources
- Clinical Practice Guidelines and Principles of Care for People with DementiaAU/NZNHMRC Partnership Centre for Dealing with Cognitive and Related Functional Decline in Older People (Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre), University of Sydney, 2016
- Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers (NG97)National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2018
- Assessing Fitness to Drive for commercial and private vehicle driversAU/NZAustroads and National Transport Commission, 2022
- Diagnosis and management of dementia with Lewy bodies: fourth consensus report of the DLB Consortium (McKeith IG et al. Neurology 2017;89:88-100)Neurology, 2017
- Sensitivity of revised diagnostic criteria for the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (Rascovsky K et al. Brain 2011;134:2456-77)Brain, 2011
- Classification of primary progressive aphasia and its variants (Gorno-Tempini ML et al. Neurology 2011;76:1006-14)Neurology, 2011
- Lecanemab in early Alzheimer's disease (CLARITY AD) (van Dyck CH et al. N Engl J Med 2023;388:9-21)New England Journal of Medicine, 2023
- Donanemab in early symptomatic Alzheimer disease: the TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 randomized clinical trial (Sims JR et al. JAMA 2023;330:512-27)JAMA, 2023
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine, memantine, risperidone listings)AU/NZAustralian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
What changed
- 14 November 2026 Personal emails, About story and Australian-style copy