Late Life Disorders Flashcards
True or False:
severe cognitive problems occur for most people in late life
False
True or False:
a mild decline in functioning is common
True
interests shift away from seeking new social interactions to cultivating a few social relationships
Social selectivity
Problems in late life
- quality and depth of sleep declines (insomnia caused by pain or meds)
- rates of sleep apnea also increase with age
- Polypharmacy
prescribing multiple drugs to one person
Polypharmacy
Research Methods?
- Age effects
- Cohort Effects
- Time-of-measurement effects
consequences of being a certain chronological age
Age Effects
consequences of growing up during a particular time period
Cohort effects
confounds that arise because events at a certain point can have a specific effect on a variable that is being studied
Time-of-measurement effects
2 major designs used to assess developmental change
- cross-sectional
2. longitudinal
comparing age groups at the same moment in time on the variable of interest
Cross-sectional
retests one group using the same measure over a # of years or decades
Longitudinal
when people are no longer available for followup because of death
Selective Mortality
Methodological issues
- response biases
- cohort effect
- selective mortality
- deterioration of cognitive abilities to the point that functioning becomes impaired
Dementia
3 Types of Dementia
- Progressive
- Remitting
- Static
formerly known as Major Neurocognitive Disorder
Dementia
formerly known as Mild Neurocognitive Disorder
Mild cognitive impairment
- brain tissue irreversibly deteriorates
- death occurs within 12 years of onset
Alzheimer’s Disease
idea that some people may be able to compensate for the disease by using alternative brain networks or cognitive strategies
Cognitive Reserve
- disorder strikes emotional process, damaging social relationships
- memory is not severely impaired
- deficits in the ability to regulate emotions
Frontotemporal Dementia
- consequence of cerebrovascular disease
- series of strokes can trigger
Vascular Dementia
- may occur in the context of Parkinson’s disease
- prominent visual hallucinations and fluctuating cognitive symptoms
Dementia with Lewy Bodies
Diseases that cause dementia
- encephalitis
- meningitis
- HIV
- exposure to toxins (lead, mercury)