Condition Overview: Dementia

Dementia
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name
Date
Dementia
Condition Overview
Dementia is the loss of cognition to the extent that one's ability to reason, think, and remember is impaired [NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA), 2022]. Due to the impairment of key cognitive functions, dementia interferes with activities of daily living (ADL), such as making appointments, cooking, shopping, and managing finances (Frederiksen & Waldemar, 2021). Dementia is not a disease in itself but a group of illnesses and diseases caused by abnormal changes in the brain (Frederiksen & Waldemar, 2021). Key symptoms associated with dementia include memory loss, confusion, difficulty speaking, poor judgment, repeating questions, and difficulty reading, among others (NIA, 2022).
It is estimated that 47 million people in the world live with dementia, a figure that is expected to rise to 131 million by 2050 (Arvanitakis et al., 2019). In the US, 15% of people aged above 68 years have dementia (Arvanitakis et al., 2019). Furthermore, it is estimated that dementia accounts for $818 billion in socio-economic costs to the world (Frederiksen & Waldemar, 2021). Dementia is thus a serious syndrome that impacts many people around the world.
Causes and Risk Factors
According to Frederiksen & Waldemar (2021), dementia can be caused by many diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. It is important, however, to recognize that dementia-like syndrome may be caused by other conditions, such as depression, thyroid dysfunction, and vitamin deficiency (Frederiksen & Waldemar, 2021). Nonetheless, these conditions rarely meet the diagnostic criteria for dementia, meaning that they have to be excluded before the diagnosis of dementia is made. The main neurodegenerative disorders responsible for dementia include Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia (Frederiksen & Waldemar, 2021).
The key risk factors for dementia include age, race/ethnicity, family history, and poor heart health (CDC, 2019). Age is the most important risk factor, with 15% of Americans aged above 68 years having dementia (Arvanitakis et al., 2019). In regards to race/ethnicity, compared to whites, older African Americans are two times as likely to have dementia (CDC, 2019).
Diagnosis
No one test exists to determine whether a person has dementia. In diagnosing dementia, doctors must first determine whether an individual has an underlying condition associated with cognitive difficulties (NIA, 2022). The diagnosis of dementia involves a physical examination and laboratory tests. These are done to identify and rule out symptoms' causes (NIA, 2022). In addition, a review of family history and one’s medical records can provide important information about dementia risk. According to NIA (2022), other procedures that doctors may use to diagnose dementia include brain scans such as CT and MRI, cognitive and neurological tests, genetic tests, psychiatric evaluation, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests.
For a person to be diagnosed with dementia, the loss of cognitive abilities "must be present in several cognitive domains" and "represent a declin...