Mrs Mary Connelly

Welcome to the latest web site of Dementia Research UK, a registered charity working to improve the lives of those suffering from dementia by supporting medical research and assistive technologies throughout the UK.

Dementia is not a specific disease. It is a descriptive term for a collection of symptoms that can be caused by a number of disorders that affect the brain. People with dementia have significantly impaired intellectual functioning that interferes with many normal activities and relationships. They also lose their ability to solve problems and maintain emotional control, and they may experience personality changes and behavioral problems, such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations. While memory loss is a common symptom of dementia, memory loss by itself does not mean that a person has dementia. A diagnosis of dementia is usually only made if two or more brain functions, such as memory and language skills, are significantly impaired without loss of consciousness. Some of the diseases that can cause symptoms of dementia include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Other conditions that can lead to dementia or dementia-like symptoms include reactions to medications, metabolic problems and endocrine abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies, infections, poisoning, brain tumors, anoxia or hypoxia (conditions in which the brain’s oxygen supply is either reduced or cut off entirely), and heart and lung problems. Although it is common in very elderly individuals, dementia is not a normal part of the ageing process.

Dementia Research UK is a registered charity promoting research into the prevention and treatment of dementia and the care of those suffering from dementia. While research has the ultimate aim of eradicating dementia it can also be aimed at improving the lives of dementia sufferers and their carers.