Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hannah Sommer
Biology 1615-011
Gregory Wahlert
Living life is one of the most important things for us humans. Being able to grow up,
learn, create a family, go on adventures or anything else you imagine doing in order to live life.
There is a disease out there that makes this nearly impossible for some people to be able to
consciously live but not be able to do the everyday things you would image to do. This disease is
deterioration of intellectual function and other cognitive skills severe enough to interfere with the
ability to perform activities of daily living. Its disease that doesnt just affect the person
themselves. It affects families, friends, caregivers or anyone around or close to that person. There
are a couple different types of this disease but two main types. The most common form would be
Alzheimers disease (AD), which may or may not be one you hear about all the time. One that is
less common but still one of the main forms of dementia is vascular dementia. The definition
cognitive function associated with an excessive number of senile plaques in the cerebral cortex
and subcortical gray matter, which also contains amyloid and neurofibrillary tangles consisting
of tau protein. The main difference between the two is stated by Boston Globe, In Alzheimers
disease, nerve cells throughout the brain die off and abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain
for reasons not entirely known. Vascular dementia, in contrast, is the result of impaired blood
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flow to the brain, usually by a series of small, imperceptible strokes. Two different type of
Dementias but both still affect memory and function of the everyday life.
The article I chose Dementia/Alzheimers Disease by Joan Lindsay and Lori Anderson
address the health issue of AD increasing greatly with age starting at the age 65. Lindsay and
Anderson set out to see if dementia does increase with age and which age is most popular for this
disease for both women and men. They set up a control group to figure out if women are more
prone to get dementia and at what age and to see which age it starts decreasing for both men and
women. They will test the risk factors associated along with the mortality rates. In the end, we
will find that according to The Canadian Study of Health and Aging it will show an increase in
the prevalence of dementia with age for both sexes, approximately doubling every five years of
age. We will find out that the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, wine consumption
and past exposure to vaccines decrease the risk of AD. Not only that but physical activity is a
safety net for women and was less clear for men. This being a good reason to promote that
physical activity. The results for Dementia and AD were incredible. It is increasing continuously
There were two methods of studies done for this. One for Data Source and the other for
Data Quality. The data source study is a longitudinal, multi-centre, population-based study that
The Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) put lots of time and detailed data into.
Currently is the largest study done on Dementia and AD in the world. Designed to mostly focus
on the patterns that are related to the elderly who have or might have Dementia and AD. The
CSHA had multiple phases. Phases that included 10,263 people who were randomly chosen. It
included those ranging from 65 or older, those living in communities and in institutions, both
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men and women. All of these people had many clinicals done and they were all evaluated by
physicians, a psychometrist, and even a neuropsychologist. After the clinicals and evaluations
were completed, they were all put into the following six categories as stated by the CSHA: no
cognitive impairment, cognitive impairment no dementia, AD, vascular dementia, other specific
dementia, and unclassifiable dementia. The CSHAs main focus was on the people who were
found to have Dementia or AD for three years or less or those who were proven to have no signs
of being diagnosed with Dementia or AD. A close eye was kept on these people by their
caregivers. Interviews were made and risk factors were tested. They were follow up on to
measure changes after five years. The Data Quality was higher for the CSHA. The data quality
involved the tests that were done by all the doctors and the results that came back was higher
than expected. CSHA stated in their article that All questionnaires were thoroughly checked and
coded; data were double-entered until an error rate of less than 1 per 1,000 variables was
reached.
After the study was completed, I was surprised at how many of the seniors ended up
suffering from dementia, over a quarter million of the seniors. In numbers, that is a total of
252,600 seniors with dementia and more women than men. More than half the people in
institutions suffering from dementia. As projected, dementia increased significantly as those got
older. From the results, the CSHA was able to point out some prospective risk factors for AD
and dementia. The most significant risk factor coming from genetics and lower educational
levels, and age as mentioned before. Those with a head injury had a higher risk but then those
with arthritis had a lower risk. The one risk factor they could not rule out was the sex. Although,
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it is mentioned in their are currently prospective studies being done in Europe that have ruled
that the female sex could be a possible risk factor starting after the age 85 or 90.
This study shows just how much Ad and Dementia can affect you and your everyday life
as well as the people who are around you. With the brain activity needed for everyday activities,
this disease kills off brain cells and slows/stops blood flow to the brain making these everyday
activities impossible by the end. There are still studies being done about Dementia and AD but
this one shows the amount of number that Dementia and AD effect are greater than thought.
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Sources
Lindsay, Joan, and Lori Anderson. "Dementia / Alzheimer's Disease." BMC Women's Health.