...Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia that develops in an old age. The initial symptoms may appear as early as at 40 years of age, and after 70 years the rate goes up 30 percent more. A sharp deterioration in the memory is the first symptom of Alzheimer's disease. Later on, person loses an orientation in time, where new information is poorly stored and is constantly blended with memories of the past. More frightening symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are the loss of identity, delusions, hallucinations and other mental disorders, when, in general, not quite old person completely drops out of life. Today, the results of clinical trials for drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease are still far from satisfactory. However, the results...
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...Dementia Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning. This includes thinking, remembering and reasoning. Memory loss is usually accompanied by at least one of the following symptoms: impaired movement, difficulty with language and the inability to plan and initiate appropriate social behavior. Dementia ranges in severity from mild problems in functioning to the most severe stage of complete dependence. There are several types of dementia. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive and irreversible brain disease. It slows and destroys memory and thinking functions as well as the ability to complete even the simplest everyday tasks. Age related Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in people over 60. The World Health Organization (2001) estimates that 5 percent of men and 6 percent of women suffer from Alzheimer’s disease worldwide (Whitbourne & Halgin, 2012). Throughout the coming decades the baby boom generation is expected to add 10 million Alzheimer’s cases to the U.S. population alone (Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, 2013). Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, which causes issues with the thinking process, memory, and behavior. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s develop slowly and gets worse as time goes on. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s memory loss is very mild but as it progresses it starts disrupting their daily lives. Some of...
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...curable). Dementias are irreversible, progressive, degenerative disorders that gradually reduce a person's ability to function in everyday life. A person with dementia cannot regain his or her previous level of functioning, even though some symptoms may be managed through treatment. Examples of irreversible dementias include Alzheimer's Disease, and Lewy Body Dementia, On the other hand, the progression of reversible cognitive disorders can be halted by identifying the cause of the symptoms and properly treating the underlying disorder. With appropriate treatment, a person's previous level of functioning can be restored. Examples of reversible cognitive disorders are pseudodementia and delirium, which will be described later. Reversible & Irreversible The types of reversible and irreversible disorders that we discuss is this topic center are classified as "Delirium, Dementia, and Amnestic and Other Cognitive Disorders" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; the "gold standard" manual used by mental health professionals to diagnose disorders). However, as dementia is the most common cognitive disorder, we will start with a discussion of this condition. Regardless of the diagnosis, the common denominator among all of the conditions discussed here is a significant problem with memory and/or other areas of cognitive functioning that represents an obvious change from the person's previous level of functioning. Dementia Many people...
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...DEMENTIA’S Dementia is a vague term used to describe a person that has loss of memory and change in behavior and activities. It goes beyond the forgetfulness and absent minded. It is commonly used In reference to the elderly, when cognitive abilities start to slip from one’s own control. Dementia cannot be diagnosed due to memory loss alone. It must be accompanied by two or more interruptions of brain function. Individuals who suffer from a disease that causes dementia undergo a number of changes. Simple daily tasks such as dressing or bathing may also become a problem. Anything can be a cause for dementia, a stroke, a car accident or even another disease. Here, I will compare four most frequent causes of dementia with four least frequent causes. Dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person's ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases. Vascular dementia, which occurs after a stroke, is the second most common dementia type. But there are many other conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, including some that are reversible, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies. Dementia is often incorrectly referred to as "senility" or "senile dementia," which reflects the formerly widespread but incorrect belief that serious mental decline is a normal part of aging. Dementia is...
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...An Overview of Dementia: How It Has Touched My Life Dementia is an illness that occurs when there is a loss of brain function as a result of the presence of certain diseases. Dementia affects a person’s memory, judgment, behavior, thinking, and language. Dementia includes Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and tends to increase the most from the age of 65. Various references and literature in reference to dementia indicate that the number of patients with dementia will increase significantly as society ages, especially within the next three decades. Dementia causes significant family issues and can become a financial burden on patients and their family members. These burdens impair the ability of a person to function independently and also have a tremendous impact on his or her relationships and quality of life. The subject of this paper will discuss an overview of dementia, treatments of dementia, how it affects human lives, and also the affect dementia has had on the life of the writer of this paper An Overview of Dementia: How It Has Touched My Life As a child growing up in the early 1970s, the writer of this paper can recall his neighborhood. It was peaceful and had a several people who were known elderly and considered as senior citizens. The writer of this paper also remembers when the adults of the neighborhood would speak of the elderly and tend to talk the most about their strange behaviors. Although this was often the case, the talk of...
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...Dementia is a group of related symptoms associated with the gradual decline of the brain functioning. Dementia can affect a person’s mood, judgment, understanding, language, mental sharpness or quickness and also memory. As people get older memory loss is common because it associates within the symptoms of aging such as stress, tiredness and medications but sadly people who are in the later stages of adulthood (ages 65 onwards) are most likely to develop dementia. Dementia is considered to progress in there different stages: early, middle and later stage. In the early stage of dementia it affects an individual with small signs such as frequently forgetting the names of people and where they have placed items. Middle stage dementia becomes...
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...Dementia is a loss of mental function such as thinking, memory and reasoning that is severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily activity. It is a descriptive term for a collection of symptoms that can be caused by a number of disorders that affect the brain. They also lose their ability to solve problems and maintain emotional control, and they could experience personality changes and behavioral problems such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations. While memory loss is a common symptom of dementia, memory loss by itself does not mean that a person has dementia. We all forget things as we get older. Many older people have a slight loss of memory that does not affect their daily lives so doctors diagnose dementia only if two or more brain functions - such as memory, language skills, perception, or cognitive skills including reasoning and judgment. All forms of dementia result from the death of nerve cells and/or the loss of communication among these cells. Things that may cause dementia are Strokes, tumors, or head injuries. Some diseases that cause Dementia are Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia. In some cases dementia is caused by a problem that can be treated like underactive thyroid gland, not getting enough vitamin B12, and fluid buildup in the brain. Many types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's dementia, and Pick's disease, are characterized by abnormal structures called inclusions...
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...Unit 40: Dementia Care P1: Describe types of dementia and common signs and symptoms. What is dementia? Dementia is a common condition that affects about 800,000 people in the UK. Your risk of developing dementia increases as you get older, and the condition usually occurs in people over the age of 65. Dementia is a syndrome associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities. This includes problems with: * memory loss * thinking speed * mental agility * language * understanding * judgment People with dementia can lose interest in their usual activities, and have problems controlling their emotions. They may also find social situations challenging, lose interest in socializing, and aspects of their personality may change. A person with dementia may lose empathy (understanding and compassion), they may see or hear things that other people do not (hallucinations), or they may make false claims or statements. As dementia affects a person's mental abilities, they may find planning and organizing difficult. Being independent may also become a problem. A person with dementia will therefore usually need help from friends or relatives, including help with decision making. Most types of dementia can't be cured, but if it is detected early there are ways to slow it down and maintain mental function. Dementia is a collection of symptoms including memory loss, personality change, and impaired intellectual functions resulting from disease...
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...Dementia is a syndrome that affects twenty five percent of individuals over the age of eighty five. Dementia causes several cognitive deficits, such as; behavioral disturbance and a change in personality. dementia is directly linked to elderly suicide attempts. It is important for us to become educated on dementia and its signs so that it can be detected earlier. The sooner dementia is detected the sooner the patient can receive professional care. We must ask ourselves what can be done to help the elderly suffering from dementia? Is it dementia that causes elderly depression and even suicide attempts? There are many unanswered questions on dementia that with a little extra research could be answered. Dementia has been around since the dawn...
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...41 Dementia is seen in 5% of population over the age of 65 and about 30% after the age of 80. Dementia represents, after cancer and cardiac vascular disorders, the third most common cause of death. It is defined as a condition of chronic and progressive loss of intellectual abilities that is severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Dementia refers to acquired global impairment of intellect, memory and personality (cognitive function) and is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms caused by the impact of diseased brain. It is usually chronic and progressive in nature and symptoms typically include problems with memory, speech and perception with disturbances of multiple higher cortical...
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... 1.1 DESCRIBE THE RANGE OF CAUSES OF DEMENTIA SYNDROME There are many different types of dementia: Alzheimer’s which is usually found in people over the age of 65 (extract from mayo clinic}Although in most cases the exact cause of Alzheimer's disease isn't known, plaques and tangles are often found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. Plaques are clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, and tangles are fibrous tangles made up of tau protein. Certain genetic factors also may make it more likely that people will develop Alzheimer's. Vascular dementia which is the second most common form of dementia which is caused by reduced blood flow or blocked blood vessels or even a infection of a heart valve (vascular condition. Lewy body dementia which is caused from abnormal clumps of protein that have been found in the brains of people with Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. (Extract from mayo clinic} Frontotemporal dementia (Formally known as picks disease) is caused by break down of the nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain which controls behaviours, language, thinking and concentration as well as movement. Korsakoffs syndrome Korsakoff's syndrome is a brain disorder usually associated with heavy alcoholconsumption over a long period. Although Korsakoff's syndrome is not strictly speaking adementia, people with the condition experience loss of short-term memory. This factsheet outlines the causes, symptoms and treatment of the...
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...called dementia is a strong possibility. Another diagnosis a doctor can give you is Alzheimer's. It is horrible to have always have something interfering with your daily life. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia in people all over the world. (What is Dementia?, No Page.) Dementia is a very common disease throughout the entire world. (Dementia, No Page.) Dementia can be very dangerous if necessary safety precautions are not taken. (What is Dementia?, No Page.) Dementia is a very common disease around the world so we need to know what exactly...
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...Case Study: Treating a Patient with Vascular Dementia Grand Canyon University Case Study: Treating a Patient with Vascular Dementia Vascular dementia is one of the most common causes of dementia, Alzheimer being the most common. Vascular dementia causes around 10% of cases while Alzheimer causes around an estimate of 60% to 80% of cases. NHS Choice (2015) defines dementia as “a loss of mental ability (cognitive impairment) associated with gradual death of brain cells” (para. 2). Vascular dementia occurs when the blood flow to the brain is reduced and usually happens from strokes, it also can be caused by a variety of diseases and damages that affects the brain. One of the most common type of vascular dementia is the Multi-infarct dementia which is caused by minor strokes or (which sometimes are called “mini strokes” or silent strokes”) that at times could go unnoticed. Unlike Alzheimer's disease, there are no licensed treatments for vascular dementia (O’Brien and Thomas, 2015) Multi-infarct dementia is more common in older men than women around the ages of 60 to 75 years old. Vascular dementia is really rare in anyone younger than 65. Global, 48.5 million people have dementia, about 70% of that is Alzheimer’s and around 10% are vascular dementia, there are 7.7 million new cases every year. This case study looks further into Vascular Dementia and the people who have them and shows how a great care system and collaboration can help the patient. A case study will be conducted...
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...Dementia is progressive deterioration in intellectual function and other cognitive skills, leading to a decline in the ability to perform activities of daily living. Diagnosis is by history and physical examination. Potentially reversible causes of cognitive impairment (e.g., drugs, delirium, and depression) should be excluded. Treatment is with general measures and usually a cholinesterase inhibitor, memantine, or both (Lichtenberg, et al., 2003). The term 'dementia' is used to describe the symptoms of cognitive decline and normal sensorium that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, stroke and many other rarer conditions. Dementia is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms that may accompany certain diseases or conditions. At this time, dementia is irreversible when caused by disease or injury but may be reversible when caused by drugs, alcohol, hormone or vitamin imbalances, or depression. The symptoms of dementia include loss of memory, confusion, and problems with speech and understanding. There is also the loss of intellectual functions (such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning) of sufficient severity to interfere with a person’s daily functioning. Symptoms may also include changes in personality, mood, and behavior. Dementia is also progressive, which means the symptoms will gradually get worse. Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way, including how fast...
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...Prevalence of dementia in elderly patients with hip fracture.PUBMED.GOV Hip fractures occur commonly and are a cause of disability for older adults and lead to increased dependence and requirements for social support. Dementia is one of the possible risk factors for falling and hip fracture, a potential source for complications during surgery and during the postoperative period, difficulties in rehabilitation and a risk factor for hip fracture reccurence. However, in previous studies of hip fracture patients, cognitive status has not been formally assessed during the inpatient stay and diagnosis was based only on previous history. Additionally, no previous studies have compared prevalence of dementia between elderly patients with hip fracture and patients with other surgical pathology. Our aim was to define whether dementia was more prevalent in older subjects with hip fracture than in other elderly patients undergoing surgery. In this study, we prospectively assessed all patients aged 68 and older admitted to our hospital for hip fracture surgery during a one year period and compared them with age and gender matched patients attending other surgical departments. 80 hip fracture patients and 80 controls were assessed for dementia. Dementia was common in both groups, presumably reflecting the advanced mean age of both groups and cognitive deterioration due to hospitalization-status. Dementia was significantly higher in the hip fracture group (85%) compared to the control group...
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