How to Tell Dementia From Delirium

When an elderly loved one or patient suffers from confusion and an altered level of consciousness, it can be hard to tell if the cause is progressive, degenerative dementia or delirium relating to a treatable illness or undesired medication effects.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Mini-Mental State Exam
• Confusion Assessment Method
• Additional medical tests such as urinalysis, blood work, and x-rays to detect underling illnesses

1. Ask doctors to administer the Mini-Mental State Exam. The MMSE helps identify long term cognitive impairment associated with dementia through a series of questions and simple math calculations designed to measure orientation, short-term memory, and language skills. The score indicates a range of impairment from minimal to severe.

2. Request a CAM test. The Confusion Assessment Method is extremely effective for diagnosing delirium. Two critical factors for the diagnosis of delirium are acute onset of disorganized thinking and inattention.

3. Ensure that caregivers are not missing an underlying illness or drug interaction causing delirium. Simple bladder infections can cause symptoms of confusion that may be easily confused with dementia if a caregiver is unfamiliar with an elderly patient's medical history or normal mental status.

Tips & Warnings

• Dementia is a progressive, degenerative condition that is untreatable.
• Delirium results from treatable conditions and mental status will improve with proper management.
• Sudden onset of confusion may be caused by serious conditions such as strokes and heart attacks.

Resources

• Causes of Elderly Dementia and Delirium
• Dementia Care Foundation