Dementia refers to the syndrome caused by a range of illnesses which impact the brain resulting in difficulties with understanding, memory, judgment and language. These disorders take in vascular dementia, Alzheimer's illness, frontotemporal dementia in addition to Lewy body dementia. Worldwide, dementia affected approximately forty-six million individuals in the year 2015. Moreover, around ten percent of general public develop the illness at a certain point in their lives. During the year 2013, dementia led to approximately 1.7 million deaths, rising up from about 0.8 million throughout the year 1990. Because more individuals are living an extended life, dementia is turning to be more widespread in the population at large. However, for persons of a particular age, it might be becoming less common, at least in the industrialized countries, because of a decline in risk factors. Dementia is a common cause of incapacity amongst the seniors. The disorder is supposed to bring about economic overheads of around $604 billion every year. Individuals who have dementia are normally chemically or physically restrained to a higher extent than required, and social stigma against persons affected is widespread. The current paper seeks to analyze the social causes and factors for dementia, as well as ways to lessen the risk of developing the disease.
The Social Causes and Factors for Dementia
Age
Age is the sturdiest recognized risk factor for dementia. Whereas it is conceivable to develop the disorder earlier (not less than one in twenty individuals with dementia get it at an age below 65 years), the likelihoods of acquiring dementia increase considerably as a person get older. Beyond the age of sixty-five years, an individual’s risk of getting Alzheimer’s illness or vascular dementia doubles approximately every half a decade (Baumgart et al., 2015). According to Matthews (2013), dementia affects around two percent of persons aged between 65 and 70 years, about five percent of individuals aged between 70 years 80 years, approximately twenty percent of individuals between 80 and 90 years, and about thirty-three percent of persons beyond 90years. This could be attributable to factors linked to ageing, for instance: alterations to nerve cells, DNA as well as cell arrangement; higher blood pressure; augmented risk of circulatory illnesses; alterations in the immune system, loss of sex hormones; and the waning of the natural repair systems of the body (Baumgart et al., 2015).
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Gender
According to the findings of Chêne et al. (2015), females have a higher likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s illness than males, which is still the situation even when people take into consideration the fact that, averagely, females live longer. The whys and wherefores for this remain uncertain. Rocca et al. (2014) suggest that Alzheimer’s illness in females is associated with an absence of the hormone estrogen following the menopause. Nevertheless, controlled experiments of hormone replacement therapy (that substitutes feminine hormones) haven’t been proved to lessen a person’s risk to develop Alzheimer’s. Nonetheless, the age at which hormone replacement therapy is commenced can influence the outcome. Hormone replacement therapy (recommended chiefly to aid with signs of the menopause) isn’t commended as a technique for females to facilitate in lessening their risk of developing dementia (Baumgart et al., 2015). For the majority of dementias except for Alzheimer’s illness, females and males have considerably the equal risk. On the other hand, for vascular dementia, males are essentially at marginally greater risk than females, for the reason that males are more at risk of developing heart disease and stroke, which may result in vascular plus mixed dementia (Chêne et al., 2015). Generally, about two-thirds of individuals with dementia are feminine. Nevertheless, the percentage differs with age set: females represent only thirty-seven percent of individuals with dementia from 65 to 69 years, but roughly seventy-nine percent of individuals with dementia from 90 years and beyond (Rocca et al., 2014).
Ethnicity
According to Robinson (2017), there is certain proof that individuals from some ethnic groups are at greater risk of developing dementia than other communities. For instance, South Asian individuals (from nations like Pakistan and India) appear to more frequently develop dementia, mostly vascular dementia, than white Europeans. What is more, South Asians are recognized to be at a greater threat of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and this is believed to elucidate the greater risk of dementia. In the same way, Yeo and Thompson (2014) assert that individuals of African or African-Caribbean ancestry appear to develop dementia more frequently. These ethnic communities are recognized to be more vulnerable to stroke and diabetes. All of these impacts are possibly down to a combination of variances in smoking, diet, genes and exercise.
Education
Numerous surveys have perceived education as a significant risk factor for dementia or mental deterioration, by use of years of learning as the measure of the level of education. A research by Sharp and Gatz (2011) found that lower level of education was linked to a greater risk of dementia, and correspondingly, Meng and D’Arcy (2012) highlighted the correlation between lack of education and the dementia incidence. Consistent with the findings of Baumgart et al. (2015), a low educational level was linked to an augmented risk for dementia. What is more, evidence revealed a link between the higher level of education and healthier cognitive function maintenance and showed that persons with low educational levels had a higher likelihood of becoming cognitively impaired (Sharp & Gatz, 2011).
Occupation
Research has considered the occupation to be an autonomous risk factor for dementia (Baumgart et al., 2015). A New York survey claimed that lower work-related accomplishment, apart from professional and managerial positions, was linked to a greater dementia risk (Robinson, 2017). Realistic occupations, counting technical, trade, and some service jobs, were associated with lower cognitive performance and a greater dementia incidence. In a research in Taiwan, non-academic personnel and housekeepers were at greater risks of cognitive deterioration (Öhman, Nygård & Kottorp, 2011). The respondents who operated in unskillful occupations showed a higher incidence of cognitive deficiency. What is more, the study results highlighted that extremely multifaceted work seemed to be linked to a lower dementia risk (Baumgart et al., 2015).
Income
Some surveys have considered income to be a factor associated with dementia. A study by Öhman, Nygård and (Kottorp, 2011) found that healthier cognitive performance was linked to higher earnings. What is more, the study findings of Baumgart et al. (2015) established that dementia is more widespread in individuals with a small salary. Furthermore, a different exploration conducted by Meng and D’Arcy (2012) showed that low level of income at old age was associated with an augmented dementia risk and that having inadequate income in old age was linked to greater likelihood of cognitive deficiency.
Genetics
Experts have recognized for some time that the genetic factor people get from their parents may determine if or not an individual will develop some illnesses. Even though the role that genes play in the dementia development isn’t yet completely understood, investigators have made vital progress of late. Over twenty genes have been discovered which don’t cause dementia directly but influences an individual’s risk of developing the condition. For instance, inheriting some types (variants) of the gene Apolipoprotein E (APOE) upsurges an individual’s risk of getting Alzheimer’s illness (Baumgart et al., 2015). Moreover, having a close family member (sibling or parent) who has Alzheimer’s illness upsurges a person’s own likelihoods of developing the illness very marginally in relation to somebody without a family history. Nevertheless, it doesn’t imply that dementia is unavoidable for a person.
What is more, it is likely to inherit genetic factor which directly causes dementia, even though these are greatly rarer than the risk of genetic factor such as APOE. In affected households, there is a very distinct pattern of dementia inheritance from a single generation to another. The pattern is witnessed in households that have familial Alzheimer’s illness (which is an extremely rare version of Alzheimer’s that appears typically well before reaching 60 years) in addition to genetic frontotemporal dementia (Baumgart et al., 2015). In case an individual has the defective gene, then individual offspring has a fifty percent possibility of inheriting the defective gene and consequently developing dementia.
Lifestyle
There is strong proof that people’s choices of lifestyle affect their risk of getting dementia, which is particularly factual of activities associated with vascular health, therefore ‘What is appropriate for the heart is suitable for the head’ (Polidori, Nelles & Pientka, 2010). Surveys of large sets indicate that risk of dementia is lowermost in individuals who have some healthy behaviors in mid-life. These behaviors entail not smoking, regular physical exercise, alcohol consumption merely in moderation, and maintaining a healthy weight and diet.
Polidori, Nelles and Pientka (2010) suggest that smoking tobacco has a very damaging impact on the lungs heart, in addition to the vascular system, counting the blood capillaries in the brain. Smoking considerably upsurges the risk of getting dementia in future, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, frequent alcohol consumption beyond the NHS recommended alcohol levels upsurges an individual’s risk for dementias like Alzheimer’s illness in addition to vascular dementia. Moreover, extreme alcohol drinking for a long duration of time upsurges the risk of getting Korsakoff ’s syndrome as well as alcoholic dementia (Polidori, Nelles & Pientka, 2010).
According to Polidori, Nelles and Pientka (2010), physical inactivity is one of the sturdiest lifestyle risk factors for acquiring dementia. Furthermore, it is closely associated with an augmented risk of stroke, heart illness, as well as type 2 diabetes. These vascular and metabolic impacts of being physically inactive are well recognized, nonetheless being physically inactivity similarly has a direct impact on the function and structure of the brain. Additionally, a poor diet may influence an individual’s risk of acquiring numerous diseases, counting dementia as well as cardiovascular illness in addition to type 2 diabetes (Baumgart et al., 2015). An unhealthy diet contains excessive saturated fat that increases cholesterol, thins the arteries and brings about weight gain. Furthermore, poor diet includes excessive salt that causes stroke and high blood pressure, and excessive sugar, which is an extra factor in type 2 diabetes and weight gain.
Ways to Lessen the Risk of Developing Dementia
There are numerous things a person may do to lessen the possibility of developing dementia. To begin with, a person needs to be physically active. Frequent temperate physical exercise is a suitable way to lessen the risk of dementia, promote the vascular health and enhance the mental health. ‘Regular’ implies exercising 5 times a week for about half an hour each time, which may be built up progressively. ‘Moderate’ exercise implies performing an activity which leaves a person somehow breathless, raises the heart rate and might make him/her a little sweaty (Polidori, Nelles & Pientka, 2010). These activities can take in brisk cycling, walking, dancing or swimming.
Another way to lessen the risk of developing dementia is to avoid or stop smoking. It is recommended to quit smoking earlier; however, it is never very late to stop because quitting smoking at any stage of life will benefit the general health and might lessen the risk of dementia. Moreover, a person should eat healthily. A properly balanced diet comprises large quantities of vegetables and fruit. Also, adding starchy nourishments (such as brown rice, potatoes, bread, pasta,) and protein (for instance meat, fish, beans, eggs) will aid maintain a balanced diet. This ‘Mediterranean’ type of diet is suitable for cardiovascular fitness and can lessen the risk of dementia. A person should also limit sugary delicacies like carbonated drinks and sweets and observe the salt as well as fat intake. In addition, a person should focus on maintaining a fit weight (Polidori, Nelles & Pientka, 2010). Maintaining a healthy weight lessen the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes in addition to heart illness, and therefore possibly the risk of dementia.
Another way to lessen the risk of developing dementia is through consuming alcohol within suggested levels. Furthermore, a person should stay mentally active. When an individual keeps his or her mind inspired he/she is likely to lessen the risk of dementia. Regular mental activity during an individual’s life appears to upsurge the aptitude of the brain, which helps accumulation of a ‘cognitive reserve’ and facilitates the brain to deal with illness in a better way. Lastly, a person should try to be social (Polidori, Nelles & Pientka, 2010). There is developing proof that remaining socially involved and having a helpful social network can lessen the risk of dementia. Also, it makes a person less susceptible to depression and more resilient.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, dementia refers to the syndrome caused by a range of illnesses which impact the brain resulting in difficulties with understanding, memory, judgment and language. These disorders take in vascular dementia, Alzheimer's illness, frontotemporal dementia in addition to Lewy body dementia. The social causes and risk factors of dementia include age, gender, occupation, income level, educational level, lifestyle, genetics, and ethnicity. A person may lessen the risk factors for dementia by exercising regularly, maintaining healthy weight, consuming balanced diet, being social, staying mentally active, stop smoking and consuming alcohol within suggested levels.
References
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