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Both acute intoxication and chronic overuse of certain substances (such as alcohol, illicit drugs, or even prescription drugs) can impair brain function.

Substance abuse and/or substance withdrawal.

It is also possible for older adults to have bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or other forms of major mental illness these have often been diagnosed earlier in life.

Depression and anxiety are probably the most common psychiatric conditions in older adults.

Psychiatric illnesses can also cause paranoia and other forms of late-life psychosis. Most psychiatric conditions can cause problems with memory, thinking, or concentration.

Delirium is very common in hospitalized older adults, and can also occur due to infection or other health problems in older people who are not hospitalized.

This is a state of worse-than-usual mental function that can be brought on by just about any type of serious illness.

Brain function is especially known to be affected by low levels of vitamin B12, other B vitamins, and folate.

Deficiencies in vitamins and other key nutrients.

Imbalances in estrogen and other sex hormones may also affect cognitive function.

Problems with hormones, such as thyroid hormones.

Kidney or liver dysfunction can also cause certain types of metabolic imbalances, and these sometimes affect brain function.

Examples include abnormal levels of blood sodium, calcium, or glucose.

“Metabolic imbalances.” This term refers to abnormalities in one’s blood chemistry.

For more information, see 4 Types of Medication to Avoid if You’re Worried About Memory.

Sedatives, tranquilizers, and anticholinergic medications are the most common culprits.

Many medications interfere with proper brain function. You can also watch a subtitled video version of this information below.Ĭommon causes of cognitive impairment in older adultsĬognitive impairment, like many problems in older adults, is often “multifactorial.” This means that the difficulties with memory, thinking, or other brain processes are often due to more than one cause.Ĭommon causes of cognitive impairment in older adults include: I’ll then share a list of 10 things that should generally be done, during a preliminary medical evaluation for cognitive decline in an older adult. In this article, I’ll share with you the more common causes of cognitive impairment in older adults. It may or may not keep getting slowly worse it all depends on the underlying cause or causes. (For more on “cognitive aging” and what types of changes are considered normal aging, see this article: 6 Ways that Memory & Thinking Change with Normal Aging, & What to Do About This.)Ĭognitive impairment - which is also called “cognitive decline” - can come on suddenly or gradually, and can be temporary or more permanent. Technically, these kinds of problems are called “cognitive impairment.” This is a broad term that means some kind of problem or difficulty with one’s memory, thinking, concentration, and other functions of the conscious brain, beyond what might be expected due to normal “cognitive aging.” This way you’ll know what to expect, and what the doctor might ask you about. So, you’ll need to request help from a health professional, and in this article, I’ll explain what that initial help should consist of. Those need to be detected, and treated if at all possible. That’s because when families worry about an older person’s cognitive abilities, there often are some underlying health issues affecting the mind’s function. The answer to the last question is this: if you are worried about memory or thinking, then you should seek out some kind of medical evaluation. Could this be Alzheimer’s? Or some other form of dementia?.

Is this normal aging or something more significant?.These are very common concerns, and they often lead to questions such as: Or you may have noticed that your aging spouse is repeating herself, or struggling to do things that didn’t use to pose much of a problem. Maybe your parent has seemed more confused recently. Have you been worried about an older person’s memory or thinking abilities?