부산대학교 도서관

One of the difficulties in making a diagnosis of dementia is well mirrored in a frequently asked question of what and how cognitive functions should be impaired for the diagnosis of dementia. Dichotomizing cognitive levels into normal and impaired in a top-down fashion does not help to solve this problem. The purpose of this article is to introduce an alternative bottom-up strategy that requires first to investigate the contents and degree of cognitive impairments, and then consider whether a combination of cognitive impairments is worth a diagnosis of dementia. This method is based on the fundamental understanding that dementia represents a combination of various cognitive deficits.