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A Tte Statiom

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13 views6 pages

A Tte Statiom

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Tabitha Michael
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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It has been shown that higher levels of education and other preventive measures such as

preventing vascular diseases reduce dementia (Holmes & Amin, 2020). There are no proven
methods for reducing dementia risk (Quinn, 2014). Educational attainment is a well established
means of reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer’s disease and cerebrovascular diseases are the main causes of dementia
(Magialasche et al., 2012). Research shows that active engagement in social, physical and
mentally stimulating activities may delay the onset of dementia however these findings still need
to be confirmed by RCTs (Magialasche et al., 2012). Ongoing studies are testing the
interventions of management of vascular risk factors and vascular diseases and promoting
social, mental and physical activities aimed at increasing cognitive reserve. That is, the use of
medical and lifestyle interventions. So my assignment is about RCTs that confirm the
hypothesis that active engagement in mentally stimulating activities may reduce dementia.
My definition for dementia. Dementia is impaired cognitive functioning (memory, thinking etc)
that is caused by a disease process.

Risk factors for dementia- There are risk factors that predispose individuals to dementia, some
of which are modifiable and some are not.
Age (non modifiable)
Positive family history(genetics) (non modifiable)
Depression(modifiable)
Hypertension diabetes and stroke (modifiable).
Smoking (modifiable).

Looking at the available evidence on nutrition, mental exercise, etc. No intervention has been
shown (proven) to be effective for slowing the rate of cognitive decline or dementia (Quinn,
2014). The panel did not also conclude that risk factors modification has been proven
ineffective. So they need to be proven whether they are effective or not. So probably tests have
been carried out to test whether risk factor modifications are effective and the results show that
they were not effective. Actually, many important risk factors have not been put to the test due
to some reasons (Quinn, 2014). So basically there are effects of modifying risk factors on
cognitive ability but they have not been proven (emphasis on the word proven) to have an effect
and they have not been proven to not have an effect either. So in making recommendations for
cognitive health, physicians try to find a practical course between false claims and therapeutic
nihilism (so not being a nihilist and removing all hope from patients and not to be pessimistic).

Can dementia be prevented? Before talking about the prevention of something we want to look
at the cause of that thing in the first place, that is when we would know if it can be prevented.

Dementia is real. It is a real problem that affects individuals and families. It causes the sufferers
and their families and the society at large significant problems. Dementia has risk factors that
contribute or predispose people to developing this condition in their later life. It could be one
singular factor or a combination of factors that contributes and brings about developing
dementia to reduce the incidence of dementia is to reduce the risk factors. For instance to
reduce the incidence of lung cancer, smoking would have to be reduced to a large extent. Not
all smokers develop lung cancer and not all non smokers do not develop lung cancer. Likewise,
some risk factors are stronger than the others and the removal of one does not necessarily
negate and prevent developing dementia. However, a good number of smokers develop lung
cancer which shows that smoking is a very strong risk factor and removing it will prevent the
incidence of lung cancer to a very large extent. For dementia, Age is a number one risk factor
because dementia happens in old age. Again, not all old people have dementia but a majority of
dementia patients are old people. In a population of 100 lung cancer patients, 90 of them were
active or passive smokers and 10 of them have nothing to do with smoking so it is safe to say
that lung cancer is a smoker’s disease. Likewise, for example, in a population of 100 people
with dementia, 99 of them are 65 years and above so it is safe to say dementia is a disease of
the old.

Dementia is a term used to describe an impaired cognitive (thinking, memory and reasoning)
ability which manifests in an inability to think, to remember or to make decisions that interfere
with everyday life. This is beyond what would normally be expected from a normal consequence
of biological aging. Certain areas of the brain that are responsible for this function have been
affected or are being affected depending on the condition that led to the brain damage.
Conditions such as Huntington disease is an autoimmune disease that leads to progressive
damage of certain areas of the brain so the cognitive function declines gradually until the late
and terminal stage where important functions are not able to be carried out. Dementia occurs as
a result of certain areas of the brain being damaged, those areas of the brain not being healthy
or viable or becoming calcified or dead which leads to the different types of dementia. Vascular
dementia in which cognitive decline occurs as result of impaired vascularity of those areas of
the brain which leads to impaired blood supply to the brain conditions such as stroke predispose
one to developing vascular dementia. Smoking and alcohol are bad for brain health and other
areas of the body as well. Smoking and alcohol have bad effects across the body, not just the
brain, so it leads to poor cellular function of the brain. So in dementia, there is a disease while in
old age, there is no disease. Associated with old age are general decline of protective proteins
in the brain as one ages but in the presence of a disease process the brain isn’t
protected.These are diseases that affect people’s cognition. So in other words dementia is a
sign and symptom of cognitive diseases. It is not normal, it is a sign of a disease.

How many people who develop dementia have a lower level of education? Does level education
play a role in the development of dementia?

https://ukdiss.com/services/dissertation.php
REFERENCES
Holmes, C., Amin, J. (2020) ‘Dementia’, Medicine, 48(11), pp. 742-745. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mpmed.2020.08.014

Magialasche, F., Kivipelto., M., Solomon, A., and Fratiglioni, L (2012) ‘ Dementia prevention:
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Appendix

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