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Thursday, 28 November 2013

Dementia: What Is Ahead For Us?

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By Jack Morgan


Dementia is a chronic and progressive syndrome related to various brain illnesses that have a severe effect on critical brain functions such as thinking, memory as well as behavior and the adverse effect on the patient's ability to handle day to day activities.

5 to 10 percent of dementia cases are recorded each year. There is no information showing the percentage of mild cognitive impairment and measurable decline in intellectual ability that contributes to 5 to 10 percent dementia cases in a year. The future of dementia research is driving towards determining mild clinical symptoms that contribute to full dementia.

What is key when exploring the epidemic of dementia is that investment in the research of the dynamics as well as the cause of the disease are key to finding a meaningful solution to this ravaging epidemic.

What is important to note at this collective stage of research is that more sustainable funding is required. Research in the field of dementia needs to be intensified up to the same level with cancer and other cardiovascular epidemics. This can only be achieved with more funding invested in this field.

So far, governments across the world have started supporting these studies to find a permanent cure by encouraging NHS services to recruit willing patients and include them in their clinical research. That's already a step forward in as much as there's still some reluctance.

Cognitive impairment might not worry patients. It might even not show signs of worsening conditions but can be a base for worsening dementia. Before you know it, mild memory impairment can lead to serious Alzheimer and serious dementia even if the patients did not show worrying memory tests during research studies or during clinical diagnosis.

Future research work is expected to take a more open form that allows integration of research endeavors with public service. This is expected to increase public participation in the core of dementia research as a bid to increase awareness on the diseases while underscoring the role that research plays in stepping up to the challenges of dementia.

Current dementia and Alzheimer management don't take into account the different categories of patients. Sometimes every patient has a unique mental condition and that will require custom management. Mental conditions worsen with age. Therefore, patients are not always of the same age and custom dementia management is justified.

Previous researches in the dementia discipline have laid solid foundations for the exploration as well as evaluation of alternative interventions to the mainstream drug oriented interventions. By extension, future work in this regard can entail devising well-structured non-drug interventions.




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