Short Paper Article Summary. Health Psychology - Essay Example

What are the risks? If it runs in the family, does the risk increases? Can smoking increase the chances of having the condition? These questions are not left unanswered. Though the cause of AD is not known and there is no proven way to prevent it, understanding the risk factors would somehow give a view of the chances and probability of getting Alzheimer’s and the preventive notion that comes with it. Since modifiable risk factors have the highest chance of being corrected, focus on these risk factors should be given greater importance.

Key word: dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, modifiable risk factors Many advances have been made in the quest to achieve an understanding of dementing disorders. One area that was considered worthy of further investigation was that of risk factors for dementia, because knowledge of these risk factors has direct relevance to the primary prevention of these disorders. According to Patterson et al (2007), identification and relative importance of risk factors are best addressed through longitudinal cohort studies and through methods such as careful deliberation of these series of studies risk factors are identified as either immutable (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity) or potentially modifiable.

Since immutable risk factors can no longer be changed this article deals with potentially modifiable risk factors to give emphasis on the things that can be done to prevent further damage. Patterson et al (2007) cited the following risk factors discussed in this article that predisposes a person to Alzheimer’s disease. General Risk Factors Though elevated blood pressure level is associated with various cardiovascular and neurologic diseases a series of studies were made to tie the relevance of BP changes and its role in the development of dementing diseases.

The said studies reveal results that are somewhat confusing. According to these studies made, both increased and decreased systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels have been implicated in increased risks of subsequent dementia making it somewhat contradicting. For example, from the Kungsholmen project, SBP in excess of 180 mm Hg is associated with an increased relative risk (RR) of all-cause dementia (ACD) of 1.6 and for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) of 1.5. However, in the same study population, a SBP of less than 140 mm Hg was also associated with increased risk of ACD (RR, 1.9) and AD (RR, 2.2). Another study in Finland reported an increased relative risk of AD with elevated SBP however; from the same study group a DBP of less than 65 mm Hg is also associated with a RR of 1.

54 for ACD and 1.7 for AD, as does a pulse pressure of less than 70 mm Hg. Thus, it would appear that increased SBP increases the risk of subsequent ACD, AD, and vascular dementia in women, but so apparently does systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure below normal levels. Though contradictory it would be beneficial to have blood pressure in a sustainable level. Diabetes Mellitus, as being one of the common acquired diseases today, have been linked by several studies to subsequent development of dementia.

Studies such as the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) and Kungsholmen Study in Sweden and others concluded that diabetes increased the risk of ACD and AD, although the increased risks did not reach statistical significance, this is fair evidence of the presence of the risk of ACD a