注意障害からみた認知症

Impairment of Attention in Dementia

注意はすべての認知機能の基盤となる。特に同時並行処理のような複雑な課題処理に必要な複雑性注意は，認知症の早期から障害され，アルツハイマー型・レヴィ小体型・血管性認知症の諸症状や生活障害，コミュニケーション障害に密接に結びついている。にもかかわらず，「認知症と注意障害」の研究は乏しく，今後は注意障害に着目した研究を進める必要がある。本論では，注意障害に伴う生活障害へのケアについても解説した。

Abstract

Impairment of attention, especially complex attention, appears in the early stage of dementia. Complex attention is one of the six neurocognitive domains, which are disturbed in dementia. Impairment of complex attention promotes symptoms of dementia, difficulties in activities of daily living (ADLs), and disturbed communication in dementia due to Alzheimer disease, Lewy body disease, and cerebrovascular diseases. Despite its importance, research on “impairment of attention in dementia” is scarce. We look forward to future studies addressing this topic. In this article, we emphasized on providing care for ADL and communication for people with dementia, who have attention deficits.