Dementia is characterized by memory, cognitive, and reasoning impairments that eventually prevent people from doing daily duties.
According to the World Health Organization, there are already more than 55 million dementia sufferers worldwide, and by 2050, there may be 153 million. The 95-year-old former first lady Rosalynn Carter just received a dementia diagnosis.
People should take precautions to lower their risk of developing dementia because the number of people living with the disease is increasing, experts advise. According to a 2020 Lancet article, these include engaging in regular physical activity, choosing healthier lifestyle options, and maintaining social connections.
As the researchers noted, "individuals have a huge potential to reduce their risk of dementia even though behavior change is difficult and some associations might not be purely causal." We posed some typical queries to specialists about dementia. They responded as follows.
Is it possible to stop dementia?
Although dementia cannot be prevented, the likelihood of developing it can be decreased. According to the Lancet review article,
- physical activity that is continued throughout life.
- controlling diabetes and blood pressure.
- giving up smoking.
- decreasing obesity.
- restricting alcohol intake.
- limiting exposure to air pollution.
- maintaining a social life.
According to some evidence, immunization against specific viruses, like influenza, may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to Paul E. Schulz, professor of neurology and director of the McGovern Medical School's Neurocognitive Disorders Center at UTHealth Houston, and the author of one such study. Over the subsequent four to eight years, three annual flu shots lowered the risk by 20%, while six doubled it to a 40% reduction, according to Schulz.
Dementia description
Dementia is a word used to describe symptoms of memory, thinking, and reasoning problems that finally prevent people from doing daily duties. Alzheimer's disease is the most prevalent of several progressive brain illnesses that share these characteristics.
"People lose previously attained function in cognition, like memory, judgment, and spatial awareness," said Gill Livingston, professor of psychiatry of older people at University College London and one of the authors of the Lancet article. "It must be severe enough to interfere with daily activities like managing finances, shopping, cooking to a high standard, or social interaction."
According to the National Institute on Aging, dementia symptoms are caused by brain neurons, or nerve cells, losing their connection to other brain cells and finally passing away. Everybody loses neurons over time, but dementia patients have a greater loss. After age 65, the risk of dementia increases significantly, although it is not a given that getting older will lead to dementia.
According to Christine Kistler, associate professor of geriatric and family medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, dementia is not a normal part of aging. Dementia is an illness. Additionally, Livingston said that while "most people don't live until 95," Carter wasn't diagnosed until she was in her 90s. It typically appears early in life, around age 80. However, it can strike both very young and very old persons.
American adults under 65 who have early-onset Alzheimer's disease number about 200,000. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are currently more than 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease. By the year 2060, that number is expected to rise to 14 million. Alzheimer's disease is more likely to affect women, Black people, and Hispanic people than White people.
What dementia symptoms and indicators are there?
According to Andrew Budson, professor of neurology at Boston University and head of cognitive and behavioral neurology at the VA Boston Healthcare System, as we become older, retaining or retrieving knowledge may require more time and effort, and we might need a hint or cue.
However, when a memory has been learned well and clues are provided to aid in retrieval, it is not typical to be unable to do so, according to Budson, who is also the associate chief of staff for education at the VA Boston Healthcare System. This latter situation frequently results in individuals repeatedly asking the same questions or relating the same tales to the same individuals.
The individual with dementia "usually happens subtly and often is unaware of it, although the people around them are very aware," Livingston added. The early stage of memory and cognitive loss that typically does not interfere with a person's everyday activities is known as mild cognitive impairment, which is not the same as dementia. A relatively substantial percentage of MCI patients do not proceed to full-blown dementia, according to Schulz. However, some do. He cited the example of someone with short-term memory loss who continues to go to work as an illustration of how impairment in one area should not interfere with daily activities. One-fourth of these individuals return to normal, according to Kistler.
Just how is dementia identified?
You should seek a medical evaluation if you (or your loved ones) believe you may have dementia, according to Kistler. Neurologists can perform more extensive diagnostics, including memory tests and other cognitive exams that last several hours of severe examination, she added. Brain scans and other tests on blood and spinal fluid can identify the presence of specific compounds linked to dementia and spot evident abnormalities in the brain. But these can be deceptive, according to Kistler. "There are people whose brain scans look bad, but have no external manifestations of dementia, and there are others whose brains look okay, but may have obvious signs of dementia," she said. Although these tests are useful, they are not a lock.
What are the dementia risk factors?
1. Proteins in the brain and inflammation: Amyloid plaques and tau, two naturally occurring proteins, accumulate abnormally in the brain in Alzheimer's disease, which causes up to 80% of dementia cases. These proteins clump together and impair cell function. When neurons stop connecting with one another, they are unable to communicate with other parts of the brain. But they're not the only ones brain inflammation is also necessary for the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to Budson. Other aspects are also being researched by scientists.
2. Age: The risk increases with age, especially after age 65.According to the Alzheimer's Association, the chance of developing Alzheimer's increases every five years, and about one-third of people over 85 are at risk.
3. Family background: The likelihood of getting Alzheimer's increases when more than one member of a person's first-degree family has the condition, such as a parent or sibling.
4. Genes: About 30 such gene variations, each with a 1% risk of dementia, have been found by researchers. Alzheimer's disease is a condition where a person is at increased risk due to mutations in presenilin-1 (PSEN1), presenilin-2 (PSEN2), and the APOE-e4 gene.
5. External variables. There is mounting proof that exposure to air pollution is one of the main causes. Additionally, hazardous metals, herbicides, and vitamin D insufficiency have been the subject of some investigation.
6. Damage to the brain by trauma: These frequently come about as a result of falls (older persons are more susceptible), being hit by an object, and car accidents. According to studies, having a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury may raise the risk of dementia. This includes collision sports, which have recently been linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football players.
7. Stroke: Vascular dementia may be brought on by a stroke, several strokes, or any other sort of bleeding that reduces blood flow to the brain.
8. Loss of hearing and social isolation. According to some specialists, hearing loss increases the risk of dementia because it causes social isolation, and wearing hearing aids removes this risk. On the other hand, according to Kistler, "we really don't know which comes first, whether hearing loss leads to dementia or dementia leads to hearing loss."
9. The Down syndrome: By the time they reach middle age, many persons with Down syndrome will have early-onset Alzheimer's. According to the Alzheimer's Association, autopsies have revealed that by the age of 40, the brains of nearly all individuals with Down syndrome exhibit significant amounts of beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the symptoms of Alzheimer's. Additionally, researchers are examining genetic influences, particularly the role of the precursor to the amyloid protein.
What kinds of dementia are there?
Source: familycaregiversonline.net/faq/faq-alzheimers-and-dementia
Alzheimer's condition: According to the National Institute on Aging, the damage starts in the brain regions responsible for memory, the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, and then progresses to areas in the cerebral cortex, such as those connected to language, thinking, and social behavior. Contrary to Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, most frequently affects younger persons between the ages of 45 and 64. The fontal and temporal lobes of the brain suffer neuronal loss as a result. Unusual actions, emotional problems, careless judgment, problems at work, and communication difficulties are among the symptoms that frequently surface.
The term "Lewy bodies" refers to aberrant brain deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein that are linked to Lewy body dementia. These lead to modifications in brain chemistry, which affect mood, behavior, thinking, and movement. Parkinson's disease, a prevalent movement illness, and REM sleep behavior disorder, when people physically act out their dreams while they sleep, are risk factors for Lewy body dementia.
Vascular dementia is brought on by conditions like stroke that alter the blood arteries in the brain. According to the CDC, strokes and other issues affecting blood flow to the brain account for about 10% of all dementia cases. When someone with Alzheimer's develops vascular dementia after having a stroke, for instance, the condition is known as mixed dementia. Dementia combos are especially dangerous for people over 80.
Adverse effects of medication
Dementia-like symptoms can be caused by a wide range of medical problems and drug side effects, many of which can be treated after being recognized.
Is dementia treatable?
The Food and medicine Administration has authorized a number of medications to treat the signs and symptoms of dementia, including a medicine to calm agitation brought on by dementia. However, "these can have significant side effects," Kistler warned.
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