Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Early detection and treatment important to cure dementia

Staff Reporter

Thiruvananthapuram: Early detection and treatment of memory loss among the elderly is important as there is a small but significant percentage of dementia cases which are reversible, neurologists have said.

At a continuing medical education programme on recent advances in Alzheimer's and related disorders here on Sunday, doctors said that it is important to get to a doctor at the early signs of memory loss and identify if this is a result of the normal aging process or if it is owing to Alzheimer's or other disorders.

Even though a large fraction of dementia cases is degenerative dementia owing to Alzheimer's and related diseases, in about 10 to 20 per cent, dementia can also be caused by thyroid problems or metabolic imbalances. Such cases, if detected early, are reversible through modern medication, P.S. Mathuranath, Department of Neurology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, said. Various studies have reported the incidence of Alzheimer's Disease in the State to be about 3.5 per cent, which when translated into numbers would represent a significant section of the aged population. The number of cases of dementia has shown an increase primarily because the population of the elderly has been steadily going up. Alzheimer's has been found to be the commonest cause of dementia in those above 70 years of age and the disease has been found to have a strong genetic predilection. Memory loss — especially recollection of recent events — is the main symptom, which worsens progressively and over a period of two to 15 years, the individual also loses his intellectual functions. This leads to the manifestation of a lot of behavioural problems such as aggression, sleep disorders, incontinence and paranoid delusions, which often creates a lot of misunderstandings and confusions within families.

Awareness of dementia, even among the medical community, is poor and thus the disease is often misdiagnosed or diagnosed very late, doctors pointed out. The behavioural abnormalities exhibited by the demented individual is often misunderstood as psychiatric problems.

Clinical criteria for the diagnosis of dementia is a steady decline of memory over a period of six months and the loss of at least two cognitive functions, which could be confirmed through radiological imaging. The early identification of the disease and proper counselling of the patient's family members becomes very important as the care of the demented individual could be a big load on immediate caregivers, doctors said.

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