Synonyms

Early-onset dementia

Definition

Presenile dementia, or early-onset dementia, is any dementia with onset before the age of 65. While it is still poorly understood, Alzheimer’s disease is the major etiology, followed by vascular dementia, and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (Vieira et al. 2013). However, causes of presenile dementia can also include other neurodegenerative dementia, other vascular diseases, infectious disease, inflammatory and autoimmune disease, or neurometabolic disease. Although genetic etiologies are more common in presenile dementia compared with late onset (Miller 1975), the majority of cases do not have an identifiable, single genetic cause. Presenile cases have played a vital role in identifying major potential pathologies for dementias. In fact, the term Alzheimer’s disease was originally understood to be a presenile disorder, while late-onset dementia was poorly defined. Attributing the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease in a presenile population to the senile population drastically altered the field (Greicius et al. 2002).

Cross-References