dementia'

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Anatomy

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Dec 6, 2023

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Jessica Sartor Human Anatomy Jessica Sartor Human Anatomy I Dementia: The Umbrella of Cognitive Disorders Jessica Sartor

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is known as a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and is the most common source of dementia universally (Haque & Levey, 2019). Dementia is known as a clinical syndrome that is characterized by impairments in several cognitive domains which in turn, prevents patients from being able to live a life that is fully functional and independent (Haque & Levey, 2019). AD is the sixth leading cause of death and is the most common cause of dementia in nearly 60-80% of all cases, this is shown in nearly 30 million people worldwide (Haque & Levey, 2019). When it comes to risk factors of AD age is the most important of them, ages 65-85 increases the prevalence in percent from 3-32. Statistics show that in 2019 there was an estimated total of 5.6 million Americans over the age of 65 suffering with Alzheimer’s, and due to the increases of population and lifespan by the year 2050 the number would be tripled to 13.8 million. Caring for a family member that has this disease is not easy, or cheap, over time it will include multiple hospital stays, behavioral changes, and at some point, most likely they will need a long-term facility. Most individuals qualify for Medicare, and those expenses as of 2019 have spent an estimated $195 billion and is estimated to triple by the year 2050 (Haque & Levey, 2019). AD and dementia have many aspects that come with it, including medical care, and the issues it comes with when it comes to an individual’s mental health and physical health. Over time these issues will only be intensified because there is such a lack in therapies and adequate direction of treatment, let alone any type of cure. Being characterized as a clinical syndrome that is a progressive cognitive decline which interferes with a person’s ability to independently function, that is what dementia is known as (Duong, Patel & Chang, 2017). The symptoms of dementia are a progressive persistent and gradual decline, and will change a person cognitively, their function and behaviors. No one person is the same when they present with dementia some of these presentations can be memory

loss, communication deficits, language impairments, inability to recognize objects (agnosia), inability to perform learned tasks (apraxia), loss of reasoning, judgment, or planning. Injuries to the cerebral cortex can present in cognitive impairments that are caused by synaptic failures, inflammation or change in cerebral metabolism (Duong, Patel & Chang, 2017). When patients are showing signs of deficits, but they are not severe enough to “qualify” as dementia they are known as MCI, or mild cognitive impairment, this is also an objective cognitive impairment that has preserved function. Patients with MCI will show signs the same as dementia, but they are more the signs of aging that what comes with dementia, because they are not affecting the patient’s independence or activities of daily life. Just like AD patients that have MCI are at a higher risk to end up with dementia (or one of the other dementias) than someone that does not end up being diagnosed with MCI (Duong, Patel & Chang, 2017). There are several symptoms of dementia behavioral and psychological to watch for including lack of interest or boredom, agitation, psychosis, delusions, and hallucinations these symptoms can cause a person high amount of anxiety and can cause safety concerns for not only the patient but the people caring for them as well. Behaviors such as wandering, or any inappropriate behaviors have not shown any response to medications, so the only way to help a patient as of now with these behaviors as of now is redirection (Duong, Patel & Chang, 2017). Dementia behaviors and psychological symptoms are considered complications as of now, and sadly a lot of times family members have a very hard time seeing their family member acting in such a manner because it is so different than they may have ever acted before the disease progressed. Patients with dementia can also have highly inappropriate behaviors whether they be sexually or eating inappropriate objects, dementia is something that can be very difficult to watch deteriorate over time. Dementia is considered and “umbrella” term, there are 4 other common dementia’s that are classified by their

cause, these dementias are, AD, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and front temporal dementia (Duong, Patel & Chang, 2017). AD is the most common neurodegenerative disease responsible for dementia, characteristically the first sign of AD is short-term memory loss, if there end up being any signs at all. Over time steady deficits in cognitive performances will occur to multiple cognitive domains. When looking to assess and treat AD, there are two classifications, cognitive that present throughout the disease and noncognitive end up less predictable throughout (Duong, Patel & Chang, 2017). Cognitively AD affects memory loss, apraxia, aphasia, agnosia, and includes impaired perception of time or unable to recognize people close to them. AD can also show noncognitive signs, for example hallucinations and delusions, depression, physical and verbal aggressiveness, wandering, combativeness and many others (Duong, Patel & Chang, 2017). Early onset symptoms can be shown through memory issues, or such things as getting lost in familiar areas (i.e., neighborhood). As the disease progresses many families will see their family members change in personality and their behaviors become more aggressive especially when they are confused. Understanding how AD affects our body physically is sometimes not talked about enough, and it is quite clear as the disease progresses, and the body deteriorates. During the early stages not, much will change physically with AD, and many people are still able to keep up the same physical activity they have always done. While we start moving into the next stage of AD, or the middle stage, the decline of physical ability will begin to become noticeable. Feeding yourself or using your muscles to walk correctly will begin to become more difficult because the patient’s brain will forget how to do such actions (Heerema, 2021). Our body and muscles also start to lose control of holding our bladder or bowels, so interpreting any of the body signals we are receiving begins to decline. Where I work, we always use the phrase “use it

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