Public Health Effects of Dementia

A person on their old age has a high risk on Alzheimer’s disease. It is a disease of mental disorder although this is not a normal part on the process of aging. One among common manifestations or early signs is memory loss.  This disease is a roadblock to a quality life of a person at their retiring age. The family involvement in the lives of the patient is very important in order to make their lives more satisfying to live. Patience, understanding, tender loving care and family support should be extended by the immediate family because there is a change of behavior and forgetting. The person who has this disease will forget important experiences of their lives, and even the names of the important people such as family members. It is also manifested in some actions like anger and even finds difficulty in executing familiar tasks like placing the spoon and forks.

The survival of the patient is very important and it should be closely monitored because some disease may not be identified on the first screening due to low sensitivity of the instrument resulting in a poor survival. Finding the right doctor is still the best remedy.

The article is a research design, where it describes the nature of the disease and is continually studied by experts so that the kind of mental disease will have a cure in order to help the patient’s improve his life as well as caregivers and family members This research is also developing out techniques that will find treatment on the disease which it aims to decrease the potential of the high risk on dementia among person at their old age and preventing it as soon as it is detected earlier. It is to aware the reader on the existing problem in America that dementia is continuously increasing in rate and if not addressed properly through extensive studies and researching to find cure for the survival of the patients. Failure to find immediate treatment on the disease will increase the rate by quadruple in the year 2050.

One of the concerns among the researcher is the survival of the patient and the care they need depends on the intensity or degree of the disease.  There is a bias on the statistical records due to the following reasons, first, while the study is going on, the sampling already includes who had dementia and people affected by the disease rather than those newly diagnosed. In other words, there was a so called length bias arise because persons who do not live longer after the diagnose tend to be excluded by the study. Secondly, there is no comparison on the mortality rates among the subjects with dementia in the study of rates in a group of people with similar ages.

On the other hand, in the study of the prognosis of dementia is similar to that for patients with some of the most malignant cases of disease which includes cancer and heart disease. It is very important that this kind of disease will be seen at early stage and this is manifested by memory lost and people who have cases like this have it already for several years before receiving a first diagnose. Early detection can help the patient to survive even longer than those who have been diagnose on the later part.

However, there are also existing issues regarding this matter but this is part of the never ending research, comparisons of studies and intensive investigations in order to achieve in finding a useful techniques and possible cures. Moreover, a clinical test is initiated several years ago in the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, Gingkgo biloba as a hormonal replacement and a vaccine that is being studied and tested by humans.

As the study progresses in finding the best cure for the disease, the patients together with their family is given the hope that in the near future Alzheimer’s disease just like any other diseases will have a medication on preventing it and if not at least to delay the progression of  the disease.

REFERENCES

1. Brookmeyer, Ron & Kawas, C. (2001) Aging and the Public Health Effects of Dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine 15, 344:1160-1161. Retrieve April 12, 2005 from

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