The Rates of UK Citizens with Dementia - Case Study Example

The term dementia is used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions, including Alzheimers disease, stroke and many other rarer conditions. This is mostly a malady of the 65-plus age group and the symptoms include loss of memory, confusion and problems with speech and understanding. There is no cure for any of the forms of the disease. The government’s main adviser on its dementia strategy for England has said the condition must not be regarded "as an inevitable part of growing old". Professor Sube Banerjee said dementia was a horrible brain disease" which should receive a top priority. If research has proven that the rates of UK citizens with dementia will double within 30 years, the need for better focus, studies, care and provision is a high top priority. In 2007, it was predicted that Northern Ireland’s dementia rates would increase 27% by 2017 and 154% by 2051 to more than 1.5 million persons. That is estimated to be well over 20,000 people and Scotland and Northern Ireland alone represent about 65% of those cases with more than half having Alzheimer’s disease. In terms of economics, dementia costs more than £17bn annually to house and care for those who must live in care homes. Those are not numbers that can afford to be written off or ignored. The strain on the health and social care systems will be unprecedented. According to the National Audit Office, of the elderly people admitted to acute hospitals with a hip fracture, identifying those with dementia and managing their care and proper discharge could save up to £10m nationally. Besides Alzheimer’s, dementia can also be caused by Korsakoffs syndrome, a brain disorder usually associated with long periods of heavy alcohol consumption; and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), or ‘prion’ disease, first reported by two German doctors—Creutzfeldt and Jakob—in 1920. Prion disease is an abnormal folding of the central nervous system proteins. This folding forms brain clusters which become spongy-type brain matter (with holes). The most fatal of the prion diseases are Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker and fatal familial insomnia. Prevention The risk of getting dementia is reduced by eating a balanced diet with fruit and vegetables, regular exercise, wearing a helmet when cycling, cutting smoking and drinking habits, reducing salt and saturated fat in the diet, and keeping a careful eye on blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It is also a good idea to continue to do the kinds of things that stimulate the mind: Crossword puzzles, chess, addition and subtraction games, as well as staying as active as possible in outside interests and hobbies. Symptoms Subtle signs of confusion may be possible warning signs. Mainly, these are the signs to watch out for: Regularly misplacing everyday items, putting things in odd places, inability to perform routine tasks, marked general disorientation, such as failing to recognise familiar streets or the time of day; impaired judgment about matters which should be apparent, this endangering the person’s health or safety; and physical symptoms, such as tremors, regular falls or a change in the way a person walks, and sudden personality changes Therapies and Treatments Physiological drug therapy, low-dose mental health drug therapy, and non-drug therapies like hypnosis, non-steroid anti-inflammation agents, psychological therapy, changes in nutrition, music therapy, massage, acupuncture and aromatherapy. The Alzheimer’s Society is asking that dementia be made a national health and social care priority; for a substantial increase in publicly funded dementia research; improvement in dementia care skills; development of community-based support; and development of comprehensive integrated dementia care models. As the cases of dementia escalate, the availability of quality healthcare goes down. Recent studies show that high blood pressure is a risk factor for dementia, as well as lower education levels. It would appear that the more people are aware of the causes of dementia and what is preventable and how to best handle it earlier on, the better they do in the long term. Possible Strategies for Change With the millions of pounds being poured into dementia cases, care homes, studies and research, one would think that even if the numbers of dementia patients did not decrease, they would have at least stabilized. Dementia research is promising, but governments around the world must prepare for a future global dementia crisis, states Marc Wortmann, Executive Director of Alzheimers Disease International. In 2001, the number of people worldwide with Alzheimers Disease and other forms of dementia was calculated to be 24 million. Researchers are diligently at work seeking to understand the underlying causes of dementia and to coordinate a strategy in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to make sure that dementia is high on their priority list. Some of the subjects up for research, debate and discussion are those involving health status in relation to cognition in normal ageing, gender differences in cognition, emotions and brain functions, detection of at-risk subjects for dementia, the preclinical phases of Alzheimer´s disease, uses of pharmaceuticals and side effects, social influences on the development of dependence, socioeconomic status and mortality and other experimental studies. Quality of Life It is becoming more obvious that Northern Ireland will not continue to be able to rely on institutionalized care for dementia patients as the numbers swell. As pressure increases on families to care for the elderly, more support associations and organizations will be needed; as well as funds for in-home medical care visits. There will be many quality of life factors to consider, such as those of the patient and the additional stressors to families who will tend to their care. Anti-psychotic drugs currently on the market, according to recent research, shows that the risk of death is doubled in Alzheimers patients who take these drugs. It is said that better training for carers of these patients can reduce the amount of drugs to be taken by 50-percent. To date, there is available research showing that a possible link exists between the vitamin B and memory problems. In short, older victims of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia become somewhat “childlike” again, throwing fits and temper tantrums, which is especially hard to deal with when large strong men are involved. At some point, they must be tranquillised, which often severely reduces their ability to communicate. The question being asked is “Why prolong life” for the sufferers for whom there is no cure? For some the target is to ease suffering while victims of this disease transition to death. However, it is hard to make decisions about whether or not life is worth living or whether or not someone “should” die in cases like these. On the opposite side of the track there are some who understand that many dementia patients do have a certain quality of life; and those who have the hope that a cure will be found. We also have to keep in mind that the decisions made for the elderly today will affect us later on in life as those ‘policies’ (written or unwritten) become the standard policies for handling and care. Prevention is the best way to tackle the future. If you have an aging or elderly parent who is suffering from dementia, the best thing to do is to take care of yourself by changing simple lifestyles habits before someone else has to make your decisions for you. More care services are being introduced to aid and assist the families, but studies also show that a “better” quality of life is achieved by leaving the sufferers in the hands of family rather than institutions. The Journal of Population Ageing examines the broad questions of ageing societies throughout the world, stimulating discussion of North American, European and the transitional and developing world on how to focus on theoretical and empirical research and methodological innovation and development for care and treatment of elderly citizens. When there are no answers, we can always ask ourselves how we would like to be treated under the same set of circumstances? Ageing is a natural process that comes to all who continue to live at least a relatively healthy life. According to the Oxford Institute of Ageing, fertility rates have fallen off, but longevity has increased; meaning that people are living longer the world over. The demographics of having less children but increasing senior citizens in our communities will impact everything we do and the way we do it. The European Union estimates that more than half of the Western European world will be at least 50 years of age by the year 2030 and almost a fourth will be over age 65. This increase in ageing and elderly persons will change the dynamics of every work and family life for everyone concerned. This is good news, not the burden it sounds. The workforce will need to begin to incorporate more mature workers and keep them working and active longer, which will impact age discrimination. There will also be more and more age-retarding technologies and advances discovered over time. The rates at which the shift is changing from younger to older populations is increasing exponentially, as many wait until later in life to have children and others choose not to have children at all. Action must be taken now in order to assure that the seniors who are taking on the world do not end up living in poverty and in worse health than the decades gone on before. Every care and consideration must be given to how the world will look within the next 30-50 years. There are many organisations working toward find ways in which to renew society and goals based on the trend of ageism: The Centre for the Environment, the School of Geography, the Centre for Employment, Work & Finance, and places like the Harvard Labour and Worklife Programme. One of the growing trends on ageism is that more and more older retired persons who do not end up affected by dementia will be on hand to help tend to and care for grandchildren while their parents get on with their busier lives. In 2005 HSBC published the results of its first global survey, The Future of Retirement in a World of Rising Life Expectancies. The survey covered 11,000 adults aged 18 and over in ten countries and territories across four continents. There is a desire for more flexibility and freedom in the way they retire than employers and laws currently allow. There are schools of thought in process now in Stockholm, Sweden, called geriatric epidemiology and social gerontology in which ageing is studied and understood in the context of collective society in order to help anticipate future needs and challenges in terms of social services. The Future Outlook Cognitive deficits are diagnosed in more than four million citizens annually. They range from normal and negligible declines among the aged which do not dramatically impact the activities of daily living to more serious disorders that are chronic, persistent, progressive and irreversible. One main consideration is the inherent inequalities related to social class and gender. There are many different ways to look at the inequalities: Previous occupational exposure, access to and utilization of available services, lifestyle behaviours, housing, and leisure activities amongst many others. The first approach is broad spectrum, including medical, physical, psychological, and social health. Second in the work is to identify what determines good or bad health in the elderly. The possibility of preventive strategies even after senior status is reached should not be overlooked. There is also the legal aspect to consider. Elder law is essential to understanding the ethical responsibilities of a society to care for its older citizens across the board. Mental status evaluations are needed to establish legal competence while composing wills, handling informed medical consent, or independent management of resources. Recognition of cognitive deterioration is clinically, medically, and legally essential for victims and their families. Another factor to consider is mortality tables. Class differences in mortality are larger amongst those who have had troubled and marginalized lives during their growth and development years. Most indicators show that worsening or unchanged levels of health and function relate to managing medicine, as well as changes in overall population health, and how older people fare in group home situations or in their individualized living situations—whether or not they have family members around or live alone. As the population ages, the frequency of dementias is increasing. Dementia is costly because of the need for high cost patient care and stress placed on carers and the at-large communities. Even those who are younger find their lives altered by having to care for ageing parents and/or other relatives. Read More