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Abstract
Dementia is one of the most
significant public health
challenges of the 21st century,
affecting older adults disproportionately
and imposing profound consequences
on individuals, families,
healthcare systems, and society.
Although increasing age is
the strongest risk factor,
advancing scientific knowledge
has revealed dementia to be
a disorder driven by multifactorial
and modifiable determinants
rather than a simple consequence
of aging. A better understanding
of these risk pathways enables
clinicians to implement prevention-focused,
person-centered care and population-level
strategies, especially in
regions undergoing rapid demographic
transition such as the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA).
Dementia
is not a single disease but
a clinical syndrome characterized
by progressive decline in
cognition, function, and behaviour.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD)
remains the most common etiology,
followed by vascular dementia,
dementia with Lewy bodies,
and frontotemporal dementia.
Modern geriatric medicine
conceptualizes dementia as
a bio-psychosocial condition,
integrating molecular pathology,
vascular burden, metabolic
dysfunction, psychosocial
stressors, and environmental
influences across the lifespan.
Keywords:
dementia, risk factors, genetics
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