The development of multiple cognitive deficits manifested by both:

• memory impairment (impaired ability to learn new information or to recall previously learned information)
• one (or more) of the following cognitive disturbances:
  • aphasia (language disturbance)
  • apraxia (impaired ability to carry out motor activities despite intact motor function)
  • agnosia (failure to recognize or identify objects despite intact sensory function)
  • disturbance in executive functioning (i.e., planning, organizing, sequencing, abstracting)

The cognitive deficits above each cause significant impairment in social or occupational functioning and represent a significant decline from a previous level of functioning. The course is characterized by gradual onset and continuing cognitive decline. The deficits do not occur exclusively during the course of a delirium.

The cognitive deficits above are not due to any of the following:

• other central nervous system conditions that cause progressive deficits in memory and cognition (e.g., cerebrovascular disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, subdural hematoma, normal-pressure hydrocephalus, brain tumor)
• systemic conditions that are known to cause dementia (e.g., hypothyroidism, vitamin B-12 or folic acid deficiency, niacin deficiency, hypercalcemia, neurosyphilis, HIV infection)
• substance-induced conditions

• Alzheimer's Online Resources
Including educational, support groups and caregiver resources.  

 

Criteria summarized from:
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

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Last reviewed:
  On 7 Sep 2006
  By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.