Types of dementia

In the UK, about 1 in 20 people living with dementia have a rarer type.

Rarer causes of dementia include:

• Atypical Alzheimer’s disease
  • Frontal variant Alzheimer’s disease (fvAD),
  • Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA)
• CADASIL
• Corticobasal syndrome (CBS)
• Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD)
• HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND)
• Huntington’s disease
• Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH)
• Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)
   

Rarer types of dementia

Alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) is a brain disorder. It is caused by a person regularly drinking too much alcohol, or binge-drinking, over several years. Unlike dementia, ARBD doesn't always get worse over time.

Alcohol-related brain damage

People with learning disabilities, particularly those with Down's syndrome, are at increased risk of developing dementia. If a person with a learning disability develops dementia, they will face different and additional challenges to people who do not have a learning disability.

Learning disabilities and dementia

Around a third of people with Parkinson’s eventually develop dementia. 

The disease that causes Parkinson’s is very similar to the one that causes dementia with Lewy bodies.

Parkinson's disease dementia

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a condition in which someone has minor problems with cognition - their mental abilities such as memory or thinking. It is not a type of dementia, but a person with MCI is more likely to go on to develop dementia.

Mild cognitive impairment