Demência

Dementia is a syndrome characterized by a progressive deterioration of cognitive functions, accompanied by psychiatric symptoms and behavioral disturbances that produce a progressive and irreversible disability. The way it should communicate the diagnosis of dementia is a key discussion point on which there is no unanimous agreement so far. The communicating of the diagnosis of dementia is a complex issue that affects not only, the patient but also to caregivers and health professionals who care and must conform to the ethical principles governing medical practice (autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice)...

OBJECTIVE: To find out the perception, attitudes and needs expressed by primary care professionals in the Girona (Spain) health area as regards the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with cognitive disorders. DESIGN: Cross sectional study conducted in 26 primary healthcare areas (ABS) in Girona. SETTING: Primary healthcare areas (ABS) in Girona. PARTICIPANTS: Physicians and primary nursing care (PNC). MAIN MEASURAMENTS: Self-administered questionnaire by the professionals in the centres...

The elderly are one of the groups at greatest risk for adverse drugs reactions (ADR). The mean prevalence of these reactions in this population is 30%. Dementia is not an independent risk factor of ADR, but is the main condition that increases all risk factors (polypharmacy, comorbidity, inappropriate prescribing, drug-drug interactions, advanced age, and treatment adherence). The present article discusses revised and consensual recommendations for the prevention of ADR in the elderly, as well as recommendations specifically for dementia patients in relation to the management of comorbidity and cognitive, behavioral and psychological symptoms...

The main purpose of this article is to examine whether cognitive plasticity increases after cognitive training in Alzheimer's disease patients. Twenty six patients participated in this study, all of them diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's disease, 17 of them received a cognitive training program during 6 months, and the other 9 were assigned to the control group. Participants were assigned to experimental or control conditions for clinical reasons. In order to assess cognitive plasticity, all patients were assessed before and after treatment with three subtests from the "Bateria de Evaluación de Potencial de Aprendizaje en Demencias" [Assessment Battery of Learning Potential in Dementia] (BEPAD)...

In the present chapter, that is part of a more comprehensive work performed by the Argentine Consortium for Dementia Study - Consortium Argentino para el Estudio de la Demencia (CAED), we describe the most frequent forms of beginning for the four more prevalent types of dementia: Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia). Despite this, it must be kept in mind, that frequently the clinical presentation is not typical and the diagnostic impression at the disease's beginning is controversial comparing it with the etiological diagnosis reached when the dementia is definitively installed...

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of dementia in elderly patients is high. The goal of the study was to assess some aspects of comorbidity in the patients with dementia. We also analyzed comorbidity differences according to age and gender. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 311 patients older than 64 years old with dementia were prospectively evaluated. Data were collected on sociodemographic endpoints, type of dementia, Barthel Index (BI), Lawton Index (LO), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Charlson Index, total number of drugs, history of high blood pressure (HT), diabetes (DM), dyslipidemia (DL), heart failure (HF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer...

The authors describe a family group studied by the Centro de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, and the Clínica de la Memoria, las Demencias y el Envejecimiento (Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Colombia), and evaluate the association of depressive symptoms with Alzheimer's disease (AD). This family presented a hereditary pattern for AD characterized by an early onset of dementia symptoms, a long preclinical depressive course, and, once the first symptoms of dementia appeared, a rapid progression to severe cognitive function impairment...

UNLABELLED: The most effective way for the diagnosing and the treatment of psychopathological symptoms appearing in non-psychiatric hospitalized patients is the utilization of consultation-liaison psychiatry. With the increasing number of the elderly patients, number of appearing gerontopsychiatric problems in consultation work is also growing. AIM: We have studied among the patients of a consultation-liaison service the problems which led to the psychiatric consultations, the diagnoses which were set up, the concomitant somatic disorders and the treatment recommendations...

The most widely accepted criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis (NINCDS-ADRDA and DSM-IV) do not allow to differentiate accurately between AD and other degenerative dementias which have recently formulated criteria for its clinical diagnosis. Therefore, it is necessary to bring AD diagnostic criteria up to date in order to optimise their specificity, by assessing its most specific clinical manifestations, its most representative markers and those features typical of other diseases which are usually taken into account for a differential diagnosis...