Dementia: changes from ICD-10 to ICD-11

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems version 11 (ICD-11) represents a conceptual advance over ICD-10 in the classification of dementias. Although the syndromic classification in the chapter "Neurocognitive disorders" remains in principle unchanged, the introduction of severity levels and the central positioning of mental and behavioral symptoms enables a more precise coding of the clinical diagnoses. Furthermore, the introduction of mild neurocognitive disorder as a prodromal state of dementia is new. The clinical criteria developed by international experts, e.g., for frontotemporal dementia or Lewy body disease, are not yet sufficiently included in ICD-11. Biomarkers for the etiological diagnostics of dementia are also not mentioned, so that it is unclear which role they play in the disease classification in ICD-11. Due to the rapid development in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, regular updates would be desirable.