| Symptom | Usual cause | Examples |
| Gradual onset of short-term memory loss and functional impairment in more than one domain: | Dementia | Alzheimer disease, Parkinson dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, alcohol-related dementia, Creutzfeld-Jacob disease |
| I. Executive function (finances, shopping, cooking, laundry, transportation) | ||
| II. Basic activities of daily living (feeding, dressing, bathing, toileting, transfers) | ||
| Stepwise, sudden deterioration in cognition; episodes of confusion, aphasia, slurred speech, focal weakness | Cerebrovascular disease | Vascular dementia, multi-infarct dementia, Binswanger dementia (subcortical dementia) |
| Acute cognitive impairment with clouded sensorium; difficulty with attention; may have hypersomnolence | Delirium | Hypo- or hyperglycemia, hypo- or hypernatremia, hypoxemia, anemia, intermittent cerebral ischemia, thyrotoxicosis, myxedema, alcohol withdrawal, sepsis, drugs (especially cholinergics, benzodiazepines, etc) |
| Complains of memory loss, decreased concentration, impaired judgment, feels worse in morning and hopeless | Depression | Minor depression, dysthymic disorder, major depression, pathologic grief reaction |
