痴呆是由各种原因造成人的智能全面减退的临床综合征,因其带来的巨大社会负担已成为一个重要的公共卫生问题。在发达国家,痴呆是继心脏病、癌症、中风后的第4位死因。随着世界人口的日益老龄化,老年期痴呆发病率逐年增高,逐渐成为人类健康的一大威胁,已成为我国不可忽视的卫生和社会问题。老年期痴呆是一个泛指的概念,包括了几种不同原因所致的痴呆类型,其中最常见的是阿尔茨海默病,也就是我们通常所指的老年性痴呆;其次为血管性痴呆。 Dementia is a clinical syndrome that has caused a total decline in people’s intelligence for a variety of reasons. Because of its enormous social burden, dementia has become an important public health issue. In developed countries, dementia is the fourth leading cause of death after heart disease, cancer and stroke. With the aging of the world’s population, the incidence of dementia in the elderly has been increasing year by year, becoming a major threat to human health and has become a health and social issue that can not be ignored in our country. Alzheimer’s dementia is a general concept that includes several types of dementia due to various causes. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common, Alzheimer’s disease, which is commonly referred to as dementia, followed by vascular dementia.