DSM-IV Criteria for the Diagnosis of Vascular Dementia

1. The development of multiple cognitive deficits manifested by both memory impairment (impaired ability to learn new information or to recall previously learned information) and one or more of the following cognitive disturbances: 

 a. Aphasia (language disturbance). 

 b. Apraxia (impaired ability to carry out motor activities despite intact motor function). 

 c. Agnosia (failure to recognize or identify objects despite intact sensory function). 

 d. Disturbance in executive functioning (i.e., planning, organizing, sequencing, abstracting). 

2. The cognitive deficits in criteria 1a and 1b each cause significant impairment in social or occupational functioning and represent a significant decline from a previous level of functioning. 

3. Focal neurological signs and symptoms (e.g., exaggeration of deep tendon reflexes, extensor plantar response, pseudobulbar palsy, gait abnormalities, weakness of an extremity), or laboratory evidence indicative of cerebrovascular disease (e.g., multiple infarctions involving cortex and underlying white matter) that are judged to be etiologically related to the disturbance. 

4. The deficits do not occur exclusively during the course of a delirium. 

American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th rev. ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994.