There are two stages to making a diagnosis of dementia: establishing the presence of a dementia syndrome and determining the likely cause. Dementia should be distinguished from mild cognitive impairment, in which any cognitive and functional changes are less marked. Diagnosis of dementia is essentially clinical but investigations are helpful in excluding other disorders and in determining the underlying cause of the condition. International diagnostic criteria exist for the most common causes of dementia and these are useful for clinical and research purposes. At and following diagnosis, patients and their families require information, support and guidance about the future.
Nursing Standard. 29, 43, 36-41. doi: 10.7748/ns.29.43.36.e9441
Correspondence Peer reviewAll articles are subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software.
Received: 04 August 2014
Accepted: 20 November 2014
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