Staff Reporter
| It's not known why people develop Alzheimer's dementia |
TIRUCHI: A study at K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital, Tiruchi, in 2005 on 2,167 patients over 60 years attending the neurology OP points to the presence of 72 people with symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia.
Care of the elderly people with dementia will be a rapidly growing health concern in India. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndrome, which affect memory, thinking, behaviour and emotion.
Though it is not currently understood why people develop Alzhiemer's dementia, the factors linked to the condition are many, including age, family history, education, alcohol consumption and head injury. Declining memory, especially short-term memory, is the most common early symptom.
People affected by dementia also have difficulty in performing familiar tasks, struggle with language and are disoriented to time and space.
There is a loss of initiative, according to the study conducted by M.A. Aleem, Assistant Professor of Neurology.
Prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia was found to be higher in women due to the low cognitive reserve caused by illiteracy. Prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia rises from 1% at 65 years of age to around 36% in those above 85 years and 63.5% at 90 years of age and above.
An early diagnosis provides an opportunity to make decisions about financial and legal affairs, Dr. Aleem says.
No cure at present
There is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease.
Pharmacological interventions aim to improve cognition and behaviour.
Drugs for modifying risk factor and modifying the disease state are likely to find a role in future.
Hence, it is important for caretakers to understand the cognitive and behaviour changes in their loved ones and to cope with the substantive financial burden of caring for them.
Home care is a convenient option for mild or moderately advanced patients if full time caregiver and appropriate respite care is available.
Otherwise, services of a day care centre is essential.
Institutional care is needed in severely advanced cases with dementia. Researches prove that a healthy lifestyle may help reduce an individual's risk.
However, early diagnosis is precluded in most patients as most of (about 70%) our population live in rural areas with limited access to specialised healthcare services.
Urbanisation of rural population and pressure for space in urban areas resulting in fragmentation of joint families and paralysis of the support it offers to older people in the family precipitates dementia.
People with dementia in the world number 24 million and 3.5 million in India.
The number of people with dementia is projected to increase to 81 million by 2040.
We live in a rapidly ageing world.
Awareness about dementia among the community being low, there is a need to increase levels of knowledge through mass media.
Dementia must be integrated into mainstream health agendas worldwide. There is no time to lose, says Dr. Aleem.
In 1906 Alois Alzheimer, a German NeuroPsychiatrist, first described this disease as separate entity.
September 21, 2006, marks the centenary of World Alzheimer's Day.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 21, 2006
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