With the increasing number of aging populations in the U.S., there is a need to find a better way to understand the effects of dementia on the ensuing public health. Dementia is composed of several disorders that have been characterized by different mental, behavioral and emotional disabilities. The disorder leads to economic loss and individual loss; there is a need to understand the probable interventions, prevalence, and risk factors that would improve healthcare delivery. This paper focuses on dementia, the affected population, its treatment, and resources available to caregivers.
Dementia refers to the syndrome by which individuals losing their thinking and social capacity, memory and interfering with their daily lives. The individual cognitive decline makes the individuals lose their ability to operate singly (Duong et al., 2017). Depending on the brain-damaged part, dementia can impact individuals in varied ways and lead to different symptoms. The mainly affects the old people who are over 65 years, and the possibility of getting dementia increase with an individual’s age. According to WHO, about 5-8% of the general population contains people living with dementia (WHO, 2020). The different dementias are classified according to the features they have in common, like the protein depositions in the human brain of the brain's parts that are impacted. The disease is caused by progressive neurological diseases like Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular and mixed diseases, which worsen over time. AD is the major cause of dementia in which the patients have tangles and plaques in their brains. Plaques are protein accumulations and tangles composed of tau proteins. Clumps destroy the healthy neurons and the fibers linking them. According to the research, more than 75% of people with dementia indicate AD (Chapman et al., 2006). People manifest hallucinations, depression, and illusions as to the disease progress.
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Vascular illness is another progressive dementia led by mutilation in the vessels that spread blood in an individual's brain. The blood vessels' problem can lead to stroke or brain damage such as fiber in the brain's white matter. The vascular disease has symptoms of problem-solving challenges, organization, and slow thinking. Frontotemporal illness is another progressive disease with breakdowns in the nerve cells and their link to the temporal and frontal portions of the brain, especially areas related to language, behavior, and personality. Additionally, there is mixed dementia, which is a disease that incorporates more than one of the causes, such as Ad, Lewy body, and VaC. The disease is also caused by individual medical situations like stroke that disrupts the flow of oxygen and robbing the brain of important nutrients. Poor nutrition, dehydration, and using some substances like alcohol and other drugs can lead to dementia. Multiple brain injuries of single trauma can lead to dementia depending on the injury's location; dementia can impair mental skills and human memory. Additionally, some illnesses and infections that affect an individual nervous system, such as HIV, can lead to dementia.
Dementia has clinical features in which are considered to be mental and non-cognitive symptoms. The cognitive symptoms affect the individual memory, but the person experiences challenges in language and executive operations (Sandilyan & Dening, 2015) . Some of the mental symptoms of dementia include loss of memory, mostly noticed by the spouse, communication difficulties, problems in spatial and visual capabilities, such as getting lost as one drives. Also, patients experience problems in reasoning, tackling difficult problems, strategizing, and confusion. The non-cognitive affects the individual’s behavior. Some of the psychological changes for people with dementia include changes in their character, anxiety, depressions, agitation, and inappropriate behaviors. Some of the risk factors that result in dementia include; age, especially when people attain 65 years (Cunningham et al., 2015). Family history also puts an individual at a higher risk of getting the condition. The down syndrome in which many middle-aged people have down syndrome indicates the onsets of Alzheimer’s illness. Patients with the above symptoms can be treated through various strategies.
The is usually no available treatment for curing dementia or changing its progressive course. There are various strategies followed to improve and support people suffering from dementia. People with dementia are advised to take control of dementia by getting enough proteins. Having enough levels of the vitamin can help to control some syndromes such as AD illness. Managing the cardiovascular risks such as treating high-blood and cholesterols, diabetes, and BMI will reduce the likelihood of getting dementia. Individuals should also maintain healthy diets, such as eating foods crammed with omega-3 fatty acids present on fish, vegetables, grains, and fruits. The nutrients will help in promoting individual health and reducing the likelihood of developing dementia. Proper diets improve cardiovascular health that is essential in lowering the risks is getting dementia. Patients should also keep themselves active through engaging in activities like studying, solving puzzles, and engaging in activities such as games to minimize the occurrence of dementia and reduce its impacts (Chapman et al., 2006). Also, people should keep themselves active either socially or physically. Keeping one's mind active helps in delaying the onset of dementia and minimize its symptoms. Additionally, people should stop taking alcohol and smoking to reduce the risk of dementia and vascular conditions and improve their health. Individuals suffering from the disease should ensure they have a quality sleep, and they notify their doctors when they experience difficulties in breathing or gasping while sleeping.
Health care providers should give the caregivers and families of the patients with mental impairments clear and supportive communication to help them manage their patients. Some of the resources include support groups. The support groups help the caregivers and families to link with other people with such patients and help them feel that they are not alone. Also, some caregivers offer helpful advice to other caregivers on how to deal with certain caregiving conditions. The 24/7 helpline helps the families and caregivers to connect with their specialists and clinicians. The helpline helps them with information, guidance, treatment options, and legal and financial resources. Another resource is the family caregiver alliance which gives the caregivers enough resources to care for their patients with several health disabilities and conditions. The caregivers are also provided with counseling programs that help them deal with their challenges while dealing with their patients. The Alzheimer's foundation gives the caregivers variety of important resources, such as fact sheets, webinars, free helplines, and community classes and screening programs to help them handle their patients. Additionally, there are memory cafes situated in libraries, health care that aids dementia patients and caregivers in dealing with social segregations and linking with other people dealing with such situations. Resources to deal with dementia helps caregivers to handle the patients well and cope with their situation.
In conclusion, dementia is a syndrome is a condition that affects people's mental and social capacities. The illness is most prevalent in the aging population, especially those who are over 65 years. Some illnesses such as AD and vascular progressively lead to dementia. Dementia is also caused by taking drugs and alcohol, poor nutrition, multiple brain injuries, and stroke. Dementia has cognitive and non-cognitive clinical features such as communication problems, confusion, depressions, and anxieties. The disease can be prevented through having proper diets, having quality sleep, and regulating cardiovascular risks. Controlling dementia is challenging due to the disease complexities. Healthcare should provide individualized treatment plans to provide the most efficient and safe drug treatment.
References
Chapman, D. P., Williams, S. M., Strine, T. W., Anda, R. F., & Moore, M. J. (2006). Dementia and Its Implications for Public Health. Prev Chronic Dis, 3 (2), 34. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1563968/
Cunningham, E., McGuinness, B., Herron, B., & Passmore, A. P. (2015). Dementia. Ulster Med J., 84 (2), 79-87. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4488926/
Duong, S., Patel, T., & Chang, F. (2017). Dementia: What pharmacists need to know. Can Pharm J (Ott), 150 (2), 118-129. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177%2F1715163517690745
World Health Organization. (2020, September 21). Dementia . https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia
Sandilyan, M. B., & Dening, T. (2015). Signs and symptoms of dementia. Nursing Standard, 29 (41), 42-51.
