HP2020 Paper: Topics & Objectives 2030 • Arthritis • Osteoporosis • Dementias 1. Research Topic: Your course faculty will provide you with topic/s for this assignment. Please check the NR503 Course Announcements.

A Focus on Dementia’s Epidemiology and Population-Level Interventions

Dementia is a neurocognitive disorder (NCD) that affects a patient’s cognitive functioning. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the key domains of cognitive function include complex attention, executive function, learning, memory, language, perceptual-motor control, and social cognition (Möller, 2018). This paper focuses on dementia in the United States, specifically in Florida, and presents an overview of dementia and its significance based on national and state data.

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Overview and Background of Dementia

Dementia is a collection of symptoms representing a mental disorder that includes the loss of cognitive functioning. The symptoms include the inability to think, remember events and reason. These symptoms severely impact the individual’s social abilities and the ability to engage in daily life activities fully. Consistently, the causes of dementia vary based on changes in the various parts of the brain and how they affect cognitive functioning. Various neurodegenerative disorders lead to the progressive and irreversible degeneration of neurons and sections of the brain, hence dementia (Gamble et al., 2022). This underlying neuropathology makes dementia more of an acquired neurocognitive disorder than a developmental disorder.

Manifestations of dementias are majorly psychological and behavioral. The symptoms occur when the rate of neurodegeneration occurs faster than the average neuron loss that comes with age. Significant dementia symptoms include loss of all types of memory, functional judgment, speech, reading, and writing capabilities. Others include confusion, delusions, and inability to manage emotions, thus making them easily irritable (Gamble et al., 2022). Progressive dementia further risks personality change. The effects of dementia on brain function can only be managed; however, some symptoms are reversible.

Types of Dementias

Based on the DSM-5 classification, the common types of diagnosed dementias include Alzheimer’s disease, Frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body dementia, Vascular dementia, and Mixed dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most diagnosed form of dementia. It is common among the aged population. Alzheimer’s disease develops due to changes that occur in an aging brain. Central brain changes due to age include an abnormal build-up of amyloid plaques and tau tangle protein, leading to multiple anatomical alterations of the hippocampal formation (Möller, 2018).

Frontotemporal dementia is another type of dementia that shares the same manifestations as Alzheimer’s disease. It is caused by the abnormal build-up of the tau and TDP-43 (Transactive response DNA binding protein 43) proteins as a sporadic process or by autosomal dominant mutations leading to frontotemporal lobar degeneration (Heuer et al., 2020). Subsequently, vascular dementia develops when blood vessels supplying the brain get damaged, interrupting the blood flow within the brain, hence oxygen supply to the brain. A patient may be diagnosed with different types of dementia, leading to mixed dementia.

Significance of Dementia

Dementia affects a huge section of the aging population. However, it is not presented as a normal part of aging. Research has noted that people may live beyond 90 years without manifesting any signs of dementia. Dementia has significant physical, psychological, social, and economic impacts on the patients, their caregivers, and society. Dementia is currently among the leading causes of disability and dependency among the elderly. Cognitive decline and loss of daily functioning in dementia patients are linked to increased care dependency and an overall reduction in quality of life (Henskens et al., 2019). According to Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), the Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) due to dementia are expected to rise to 82.6 percent by 2030.

Dementia is linked to severe frailty among patients, leading to an increased physical and psychological burden on family caregivers. Dementia expenses are 32% of family assets as compared to 11% of the expenditure on other health conditions in the long term. Typically, dementia care costs $25,213 per person, with the cost of care and cost of living expected to rise beyond US$2.8 trillion by 2030 globally (World Health Organization (WHO), 2021).

Epidemiological Analysis of Dementias

Descriptive epidemiology utilizes