dementia Flashcards
things people can struggle with in their old age
- Mobility -> Stairs, Getting to the shops
- Dexterity -> making a cup of tea , Brushing teeth
- Communication -> sight and hearing -> isolation
common medical diseases in the elderly
- Musculoskeletal – Arthritis, Osteoporosis, gout, fractures
- Diabetes, Hormonal dysfunction
- Cognitive Impairment
- Visual conditions
- Hearing conditions
- Cardiovascular conditions
- GI condition
- Malignancy
dementia
syndrome
- usually of a chronic or progressive nature
Deterioration in cognitive function (i.e. the ability to process thought) beyond what might be expected from normal ageing.
what does dementia affect
- Memory
- Thinking
- Orientation
- Comprehension
- Calculation
- Learning capacity
- Language
- Judgement
thoughts and abilities
dementia
definition
acquired progressive loss of cognitive functions, intellectual and social abilities
Severe enough to interfere with daily functioning,
- Characterized by:
- Amnesia (especially for recent events),
- Inability to concentrate,
- Disorientation in time, place or person,
- Intellectual impairment
dementia prevelance
2014 850,500
2025 1.14 million
2051 2 million
- Only 46% of people with dementia in the UK currently have a diagnosis
- 1 in 3 people over 65 will die with a form of dementia
Communication with patients
- Capacity / Consent
5 areas of struggle for dementia pts
- day-to-day memory
- concentrating, planning, organising
- language
- visuospatial skills
- orientation
day to day issues for dementia pts
- difficulty recalling events that happened recently
concentration, planning or organising issues for dementia pts
- difficulty recalling events that happened recently
language issues for dementia pts
- difficulties following a conversation or finding the right word for something
visuospatial skills for dementia pts
- problems judging distances (eg on stairs) and seeing objects in three dimensions
orientation issues for dementia pts
- losing track of the day or date, or becoming confused about where they are.
what is not affected in dementia
Consciousness is not affected have awareness
The impairment in cognitive function is commonly accompanied, and occasionally preceded, by deterioration in:
- Emotional control
- Social behavior
- Motivation
4 main types of dementia
- alzheimers
- vascular
- dementia with Lewy Bodies
- frontotemporal
rarer forms of dementia
- HIV – related genitive impairment
- Parkinson’s disease
- Corticobasal degeneration
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Niemann-Pick disease
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
Alzeheimer’s dementia
Most common (60%)
Reduction size of the Cortex, severe in hippocampus
-
Related to personality, motor ->short term memory loss
- Plaques are deposits of a protein fragment called beta-amyloid that build up in the spaces between nerve cells.
- Tangles are twisted fibers of tau protein build up inside cells.
distinctive factors of alzeheimers
STML, Aphasia (difficulty forming language), Communication Difficulties, Muddled over everyday activities, mood swings, withdrawn, loss of confidence
associated factors of alzeheimers
- Age
- Gender – Women > Men
- Head injury
- Lifestyle
- Increased risk = smoking, hypertension, low folate, high blood cholesterol
- Reducing risk = physical, mental and social activities
- Genetic – abnormalities on chromosome 1, 14 or 21