Neurocognitive Disorders

Flashcards covering perspectives, DSM-5 criteria, clinical descriptions, statistics, etiologies, and treatments related to neurocognitive disorders.

Neurocognitive Disorders

Affect multiple cognitive processes including learning, memory, and consciousness, typically developing later in life. Classes include delirium, mild neurocognitive disorder, and major neurocognitive disorder.

Delirium

Global impairments in consciousness and cognition that develop rapidly over hours to days. Symptoms may include confusion, disorientation, and deficits in attention, memory, and language.

Causes of Delirium

Can result from drug intoxication, medications, illicit drugs, poisons, withdrawal from drugs, infections, and head injuries.

Treatment of Delirium

Treat underlying medical or withdrawal problems, using haloperidol or olanzapine for acute delirium, alongside psychosocial interventions such as education, reassurance, and coping strategies.

Major Neurocognitive Disorder

Characterized by a gradual deterioration of brain functioning affecting memory, judgment, language, and other advanced cognitive processes.

Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

Focuses attention on the early stages of cognitive decline.

Initial Symptoms of Major/Mild Neurocognitive Disorders

Include memory impairment, visuospatial skills deficits, agnosia (including facial agnosia), delusions, depression, agitation, aggression, and apathy.

Later Symptoms of Major/Mild Neurocognitive Disorders

Include continued cognitive decline necessitating assistance with activities of daily living, with death often resulting from inactivity and other illnesses such as pneumonia.

Neurocognitive Disorder Due to Alzheimer’s Disease

Characterized by multiple cognitive deficits including memory, orientation, judgment, and reasoning, developing gradually and steadily. Symptoms include confusion, agitation, depression, anxiety, and sundowner syndrome.

Range of Cognitive Deficits in Alzheimer’s Disease

Aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, and executive dysfunction.

Vascular Neurocognitive Disorder

Progressive brain disorder caused by blockage or damage to blood vessels, often with sudden onset such as a stroke, leading to variable impairments.

Symptoms of Vascular Neurocognitive Disorder

Symptoms include cognitive disturbances affecting the speed of information processing and executive functioning, motor problems, and weakness in limbs.

Other Medical Conditions That Cause Neurocognitive Disorder

Traumatic brain injury, Lewy body disease, Parkinson’s disease, HIV infection, substance use, Huntington’s disease, and prion disease.

Frontotemporal Neurocognitive Disorder

Affects personality, language, and behavior due to damage in the frontal or temporal regions of the brain.

Lewy Bodies

Microscopic deposits of a protein that damage brain cells over time, contributing to neurocognitive disorder.

Parkinson’s Disease

Degenerative brain disorder involving damage to the dopamine pathway, leading to motor problems such as tremors, posture issues, walking difficulties, and speech impairment.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Type 1 (HIV-1)

Causes neurological impairments and dementia, leading to cognitive slowness, impaired attention, forgetfulness, clumsiness, repetitive movements, tremors, leg weakness, apathy, and social withdrawal.

Huntington’s Disease

Genetic autosomal dominant disorder affecting chromosome 4, with early onset in the 40s or 50s, causing motor symptoms such as chorea.

Prion Disease

Always fatal and linked to mad cow disease. Types include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Substance/Medication-Induced Neurocognitive Disorder

Results from drug use and poor diet, with substances like alcohol, inhalants, sedatives, hypnotics, and anxiolytics causing potentially permanent brain damage and symptoms similar to other neurocognitive disorders.

Causes of Neurocognitive Disorder

Smoking, neurofibrillary tangles, Tau, Amyloid plaques, Neuritic or senile plaques and Cortical atrophy.

Treatment of Neurocognitive Disorders

Early intervention is critical and includes preventing certain conditions, delaying onset, and coping with the advancing deterioration, using multidimensional treatment focused on slowing the progression.