Dementia: How and Whom Does It Affect?

Individuals diagnosed with dementia have to face with the prospect of gradual loss of the capacity to make their own decisions. They need to think about and make their choises about care, treatment and money when they are not able to speak for themselves at some time in the future.

The term ‘dementia’ is used to describe 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, and judgment. People with dementia can become apathetic or uninterested in their usual activities, and have problems controlling their emotion. They also fine social situation challenging, lose interest in socialising and aspect of their personality may change. The majority of people who are diagnosed with dementia have either Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia, or a combination of the two. (Source 1) As the disease progresses, the person experiencing dementia becomes more vulnerable and their needs often complex; which requires appropriate care and management (Kitwood, 1997).this leads me to the next distinctive feature of patients with dementia.

Dementia does not only impact the people with symptoms and it also disturbs the people who must care for the person. It is estimated that 1.2 million people are involved in the care of people with dementia. It has a financial burden on the Australian economy $4.9 billion in 2009-10. (1)

The term ‘dementia’ describes a set of symptoms which can include loss of memory, mood changes and problems with communication and reasoning. These symptoms occur when the brain is damaged by certain conditions and diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. 
Age is the greatest risk factor for dementia. Dementia affects one in 14 people over the age of 65 and one in six over the age of 80. However, dementia is not restricted to older people: in the UK, there are over 17,000 people under the age of 65 with dementia, although this figure is likely to be an underestimate.

Dementia can be defined as a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life (alz.org). More than often, individuals affected by dementia are over the age of 65. In the United States, there are more than three million cases of dementia each year. According to World Health Organization, the number of people living with dementia is currently estimated at 47.5 million worldwide and is expected to increase to 75.6 million by 2030 (World Health Organization 2015). Dementia is caused by physical modifications in the brain and is known for loss of memory and mental abilities. It’s a progressive disease which means it gets worse over time. If diagnosed early on, the quality of life for people with dementia as well as their family members can be significantly improved. There are many different types of dementias although some are far more reciprocal than others. One of the most common types of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Other few types of dementias are “Vascular dementia, Mixed dementia, Parkinson 's disease and Frontotemporal dementia (Krishnan, D. S)”. All of the various forms of dementia tend to have similar symptoms which consequently makes it hard to determine the type of dementia a patient may be suffering from.

Alzheimer 's disease causes 50% to 60% of all cases of dementia (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). In addition, researchers have found that two other nervous system conditions, Lewy body disease and Pick 's disease, which were originally incorrectly diagnosed as Alzheimer 's, are emerging as major causes of dementia (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). Dementia is considered a late-life disease because it tends to develop mostly in elderly people; as many as half of all people over the age of eighty are suspected of suffering from Alzheimer 's disease (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke).

Dementia which was views as a disease is now viewed as a disability. It allows us to view people with dementia as individuals coping with their own impairment and entitled to an adequate quality of life and comfort. To do this it is necessary for us to shift our way of thinking from focusing on dementia as a disease that degenerative without a cure, to focusing on the whole person and seeing dementia as a disability of certain parts of the persons

Dementia refers to a syndrome which results in deterioration in thinking, memory, behavior, and ability to execute everyday activities and duties. Despite the fact that the syndrome is mainly associated with the older people, it is not a normal aspect or part of ageing. One of the major causes of dementia is the aspect of Alzheimer's disease. This disease contributes to about 60 to 70 percent of the cases of dementia. Dementia possesses psychological, physical, economic, and social impacts in relation to the family, caregivers, and the entire society. Dementia affects each individual in a diverse or different way with reference to the impact of the disease and personality following the development of the syndrome (Gao et al, 2013 p. 447).

The topic of this article is about the effects that Alzheimer’s has on the patients, family members/caregivers. I believe there is a grave importance in this topic to help understand the effects of this disease and possibly help farther research. This might bring a few questions to the front of this discussion. How the relationship is after a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? How does this effect the family members/caregivers? What symptoms do family members experience with Alzheimer’s patients? What factors in life play a role in developing this disease? This paper will explore these questions with the respect of these news articles.

What exactly is dementia? By definition, “Dementia, which is from the Latin word dement meaning ‘without mind,’ is a progressive deterioration and eventual loss of mental ability that is severe enough to interfere with normal activities of daily living, lasts more than six months, not present since birth, and not associated with a loss or alteration of consciousness” (Thomasson, 2014). Dementia is usually caused by a loss of brain cells in the cerebral cortex of the brain, the part responsible for thoughts, memory, actions, and personality (Thomasson, 2014). The loss of brain cells in this part of the brain usually leads to what is called cognitive impairment which can at some point be diagnosed as dementia (Thomasson, 2014). What a lot of

Dementia is not considered a specific disease because it is such a broad disease there are many different types.

Dementia is a chronic syndrome that involves a progressive deterioration of brain function and leaves a person to suffer from not only a cognitive decline but physical, emotional, and behavioral changes as well. There are over ten different types of dementia and each cause significant changes in the make up of the brain and the brain function. Those changes include deposits of protein that form plaques, twisted strands of protein that form tangles, blood vessel blockages, fluid build up, and Thiamine deficiency. The two most common forms of dementia are Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of cases, and

Dementia is a syndrome caused by multiple progressive illnesses that affects memory, thinking, orientation, behaviour, comprehension, calculation, judgement, learning capacity, language, and loss of motivation and emotional control. The syndrome is characterized by Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with lewy bodies, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. Dementia mainly affects older people. Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia.

The data was collected from the CASCADE (the Choices, Attitudes, and Strategies for Care of Advanced Dementia at the End-of-Life) database and National Institutes of Health to locate dementia patients this was the fastest way to reach and contact a cohort of patients. The health history of the cohort was gathered from patients’ medical charts and from health care providers in nursing homes to save time from reassessing the patients. The regular physical examination of the patients was scheduled every 3 months for up to 18 months to evaluate health status, clinical complications, distressing symptoms, and burdensome interventions. These visits helped the researchers to record the progression of the disease. Also, a cognitive examination with the Test for Severe Impairment had been done for each patient.

There are many disease processes that culminate in the onset of dementia; the most common of which is Alzheimer’s disease. The syndrome is frequently associated with a progressive decline in brain function and the associated physical and mental abilities, including memory, language and cognitive function.