____ Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias: Symptoms, Stages, and Communication Strategies Expanded
INTRODUCTION Alzheimer’s disease is one of the leading illnesses affecting the elderly and is the most prevalent of the dementias. As people are living longer, the number of Americans diagnosed with AD is expected to reach 82 million by 2030, according to the World Health Organization (Zhou et al 2022). The impact that AD has on society has become a public health challenge. In May 2022, the federal government increased funding for AD research to almost $350 billion. As a major cause of physical and mental disability, and increased functional dependency, AD impacts the patient and caregiver. Allied healthcare pro- viders will play a major role in education, communication, and treatment related to this disease, and the research shows that their interaction is with the patient and their respective support team. Learning about AD’s brain impact, stages and their respective symptoms, patient responsiveness, and caregiver burden will enable you to align with colleagues to share information that will impact lives. This course will provide insight and under- standing based on the most current data to enable you to have deeper insight into the impact of AD.
DEMENTIA Dementia is a common brain disorder throughout the world characterized by memory loss, cognitive impairment, and ulti- mately loss of independence (Zhou et al., 2021). Over time, capacity is diminished, deeply impacting well-being, self-care, and the ability to perform activities of daily living. Symptoms of dementia can include: • Memory loss • Poor judgment and confusion
• Confusion with finances • Wandering or getting lost
• Inability to capture words for objects • Loss of interest in normal activities • Inability to perform normal activities • Paranoia and/or delusions
• Difficulty expressing thoughts • Loss of ability to read or write
It is important that people with any type of dementia-like attributes receive a diagnosis from a trained provider (Ophey, 2021). Experts are needed to ensure diagnostic accu- racy with screening methodologies to create and implement care plans that will improve outcomes.
TYPES OF DEMENTIA
Disease
Symptoms
Attributes/Causation
Parkinson’s disease (Ophey et al., 2021)
• Poor executive function • Trouble walking • Unstable gait • Impaired responsiveness to visual cues • Speech impairment • Impaired affect/modified facial expression • Decreased eye blinking • Depression • Dementia • Insomnia • Rigidity/freezing • Shaking • AD traits: Memory loss, confusion, and language • Frontal lobe brain cell damage due to nerve damage • Diagnosis confirmed postmortem • Drastic change in behavior and personality • Aggression • Loss of speech
• Basal ganglia cells die, causing dopamine levels to drop • Progressive, chronic disease • Personalized treatments for symptom relief • Exercise can improve symptoms and may protect the brain (Michael J. Fox Foundation, 2022) • No cure
Frontotemporal dementia (Alzheimer’s Associa- tion, n.d.)
• Frontal lobe controls language and personality • Also known as Pick’s disease • No cure
• Loss of decision-making ability • Loss of sense of self-awareness • Will become completely dependent
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