What Causes Death In People With Dementia

Additionally The Number Of People Getting Diagnosed With Dementia In England Decreased During Coronavirus And It’s Estimated That Similar Trends Occurred In The Other Uk Nations

This reduced rate of diagnosis also impacts the recording of dementia or the diseases that cause it on death certificates. ;Although dementia is not the leading cause of death in England and Wales currently, high numbers of people with dementia still sadly passed away last year.

This is in part due to COVID-19 disproportionately impacting people with dementia combined with the high numbers of deaths from dementia-causing diseases, even with decreased diagnosis rates. ;;

Medications To Maintain Mental Function In Alzheimer’s Disease

Several medications are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat symptoms of Alzheimers. Donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine are used to treat the symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimers. Donepezil, memantine, the rivastigmine patch, and a combination medication of memantine and donepezil are used to treat moderate to severe Alzheimers symptoms. All of these drugs work by regulating neurotransmitters, the chemicals that transmit messages between neurons. They may help reduce symptoms and help with certain behavioral problems. However, these drugs dont change the underlying disease process. They are effective for some but not all people and may help only for a limited time.

What Are The Warning Signs That Life Is Nearing An End

When an elderly person with dementia is almost bearing their end, it can be very traumatic especially for the loved ones. It is important to have an idea of what signs one needs to expect when the end comes as this can give you some sort of comfort.

When you think of a condition such as Alzheimers disease, a person can live for over 10 years with it. It is possible to make the person happy over those years. Since we are not immortals, at some point life does come to an end when you have dementia and it is something that one needs to be prepared for especially if they are caregivers.

Handling the final stage of dementia is much easier, especially when you are aware of the things that you should expect. It is important to give the person the kind of care that will award him or her dignified and peaceful death.

Usually, when a person is about to reach the end, the dementia symptoms usually get worse and this can be quite upsetting. Some of the things that you may notice include:

• Limited mobility so they may have to be bed bound
• Limited speech or no speech at all
• Double incontinence
• Difficulties swallowing and eating

It is important to note that the above symptoms do not really mean that the person will just die. There are people who can have such symptoms for quite some time. You should also remember that about two-thirds of dementia patients succumb to other ailments such as pneumonia.

Some of the other signs that can indicate that death is indeed close include:

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Use And Costs Of Health Care And Long

Among Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, black/African Americans had the highest Medicare payments per person per year, while whites had the lowest payments . The largest difference in payments was for hospital care, with black/African Americans incurring 1.7 times as much in hospital care costs as whites .

• Created from unpublished data from the National 5% Sample Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries for 2014.

In a study of Medicaid beneficiaries with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s dementia that included both Medicaid and Medicare claims data, researchers found significant differences in the costs of care by race/ethnicity. These results demonstrated that black/African Americans had significantly higher costs of care than whites or Hispanics/Latinos, primarily due to more inpatient care and more comorbidities. These differences may be attributable to later-stage diagnosis, which may lead to higher levels of disability while receiving care; delays in accessing timely primary care; lack of care coordination; duplication of services across providers; or inequities in access to care. However, more research is needed to understand the reasons for this health care disparity.

How Does Dementia Progress

Typically, symptoms of dementia tend to develop slowly, often over several years. In the early stages of the disease, many people with mild dementia cope with just a small amount of support and care. As the disease progresses more care is usually needed.

In the later stages of dementia, speech may be lost and severe physical problems may develop, including problems with mobility, incontinence and general frailty. This can make people more susceptible to other health problems such as infections. Often, people with dementia die from another health problem such as a severe chest infection. So, the dementia isn’t the cause of their death but has contributed to it.

Some people can live for many years after dementia has been diagnosed. However, the condition does shorten lifespan. On average, once diagnosed with dementia, people are:

• In the mild early stage for one or two years.
• In the moderate stage, needing help looking after themselves for another two or three years.
• In a severe stage by four to five years after diagnosis, being completely dependent on carers and more or less completely inactive.

The average survival after diagnosis is 3-9 years, but people can survive for up to 20 years after being diagnosed with dementia.

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The Basics Of Alzheimers Disease

Scientists are conducting studies to learn more about plaques, tangles, and other biological features of Alzheimers disease. Advances in brain imaging techniques allow researchers to see the development and spread of abnormal amyloid and tau proteins in the living brain, as well as changes in brain structure and function. Scientists are also exploring the very earliest steps in the disease process by studying changes in the brain and body fluids that can be detected years before Alzheimers symptoms appear. Findings from these studies will help in understanding the causes of Alzheimers and make diagnosis easier.

One of the great mysteries of Alzheimers disease is why it largely affects older adults. Research on normal brain aging is exploring this question. For example, scientists are learning how age-related changes in the brain may harm neurons and affect other types of brain cells to contribute to Alzheimers damage. These age-related changes include atrophy of certain parts of the brain, inflammation, blood vessel damage, production of unstable molecules called free radicals, and mitochondrial dysfunction .

When Should I Call My Healthcare Provider

If you are diagnosed with FTD, you and your caregivers should talk with your healthcare providers about when to call them. Your healthcare provider will likely advise calling if your symptoms become worse, or if you have obvious or sudden changes in behavior, personality, or speech. This includes mood changes, such as increasing depression or feeling suicidal.It can be very stressful for a caregiver to take care of a loved one with FTD. It’s normal to have feelings of denial, anger, and irritability. Caregivers may also have anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and health problems of their own. Caregivers should contact their healthcare provider if they have any of these signs of stress.

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The Start Of The Dying Process

As someones condition worsens and they get to within a few days or hours of dying, further changes are common. The person will often:

• deteriorate more quickly than before
• lose consciousness
• develop an irregular breathing pattern
• have cold hands and feet.

These changes are part of the dying process. Healthcare professionals can explain these changes so you understand what is happening. The person is often unaware of what is happening, and they should not be in pain or distress.

Medication can be used to treat the persons symptoms. If the person cant swallow, there are other ways of providing this, such as medication patches on the skin, small injections or syringe drivers . Speak to a GP or another health professional about this.

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What Do Elderly People Think About Life And Death

As we get older, death seems to be nearer than when we are younger. In as much as anyone can die regardless of age, for an older person, it seems like it is more likely to happen, especially when dealing with different health conditions that the body does not handle as it used to in the younger years.

For older persons, death does not always spell sorrow and terror, as is the case with younger people. Many of the older people are contented with what the short-term future has for them. You may think that people may get anxious as they become older, but this is not the case. Older people do not have much sadness and anxiety, especially related to death. They are actually more positive about life and death.

As we grow older, our perspective shifts. This is when you realize that things are not as they always seem. Most people fear death because they feel that they will lose the things that they have been working so hard to get over the years. However, for older people, this attachment to things acquired is not really pronounced. This is how some of the fear of death actually melts away.

When you look around you and you realize that there are things that are a part of you that will outlive you actually help in a major way. This could be the legacy we have in children or gardens planted. There are yet others who place value on their country, their religion, or families that live on even after they are gone.

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What Are The Symptoms

Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way. The different types of dementia tend to affect people differently, especially in the early stages.

A person with dementia will often have cognitive symptoms . They will often have problems with some of the following:

• Day-to-day;memory; difficulty recalling events that happened recently.
• Repetition; repeating the same question or conversation frequently in; a short space of time.
• Concentrating, planning or organising; difficulties making decisions, solving problems or carrying out a sequence of tasks .
• Language; difficulties following a conversation or finding the right word for something.
• Visuospatial skills – problems judging distances and seeing objects in three dimensions.
• Orientation – losing track of the day or date, or becoming confused about where they are.

Some people have other symptoms including movement problems, hallucinations or behaviour changes.

Dementia Leading Cause Of Death In September

23 October 2020

The Office for National Statistics has today revealed dementia and Alzheimers disease were the leading cause of death in September. Collectively they accounted for 11.2% of all deaths in England and 11.1% of deaths in Wales.

Coronary heart disease, itself a risk factor for dementia, was the second leading cause of death in both England and Wales. In England, COVID-19 was the 19th most common cause of death and was 24th in Wales.

Alzheimers Research UK, the UKs leading dementia research charity, has said government must do everything it can to protect people with dementia and deliver on its commitment to double funding for dementia research to stop the devastating impact the condition is causing.

During the 2019 election, the government promised to increase its spending on dementia research to over £160 million a year, but no further detail on this pledge has yet been revealed.

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How Alzheimer’s Causes Death

In late-stage Alzheimer’s disease, people become extremely confused and disoriented. The behavior of someone with late stage Alzheimer’s may become more agitated and restless, while other persons experience withdrawal and apathy. Sometimes, people with later stage dementia cry and call out. Eventually, they lose the ability to communicate, and they may not respond at all.

Additionally, people in the late stages are unable to care for themselves, becoming bedbound and completely dependent on others for their activities of daily living. Their ability to be continent of bowel and bladder declines.

Their appetite decreases as well, and eventually, they lose the ability to swallow, leading to poor nutrition and a high risk of aspiration. Aspiration, where a person’s food goes “down the wrong tube” when they swallow it, greatly increases the risk of pneumonia developing because they’re not able to fully cough and clear the food out of their esophagus and then it settles into their lungs.

Under these difficult conditions, it’s not hard to imagine how vulnerable people with late-stage dementia become, sometimes succumbing to infections, pressure sores, and pneumonia. One study found that half of all people with dementia admitted to a hospital for pneumonia or a hip fracture died within six months of leaving the hospital.

Other factors that impact the death rate in Alzheimer’s disease include advanced age, increased falls, and;delirium.

How To Test For Dementia

There is no single test that can determine a person is suffering from dementia. The doctor can diagnose different types of dementia such as Alzheimers based on their medical history.

This has to be done very carefully. In addition, the doctor may conduct laboratory tests, physical examinations, and changes in the way the patient thinks.

When all things are considered carefully, a doctor can be able to determine that a person is actually suffering from dementia with certainty. Determining the type of dementia can be hard, especially due to the fact that brain changes and symptoms that are associated with the different types of dementias sometimes overlap.

It is normal for the doctor to give a diagnosis of dementia without really specifying the type. In such a case, it is important for the patient to visit a specialist in this area like a psychologist or neurologist for a more specific diagnosis.

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Can Dementia Be Prevented

Some things do show some promise.

Having risk factors for cardiovascular disease can increase your risk of developing all types of dementia. These risk factors include:

• Smoking.
• Not doing enough physical activity.
• Being overweight.
• Having diabetes or high blood pressure.

Therefore, it would seem likely that doing something to modify these risk factors may reduce your risk of developing dementia. Stopping smoking, reducing excessive alcohol, and losing weight if you are overweight, for example, may all help to reduce your risk of dementia. Regular physical exercise is advised for all sorts of health benefits, including reducing the risk of dementia. One UK study suggested that a fifth of cases of Alzheimer’s disease might have been related to lack of physical activity. It proposed that regular exercise might have actually prevented some of these cases.

Keeping your brain active may also help to reduce your risk of developing dementia. So, for example, consider reading books, doing puzzles, learning a foreign language, playing a musical instrument, taking up a new hobby, etc.

Many studies are going on to look into treatments which may help to prevent dementia. These include certain blood pressure medicines, omega-3 fatty acids, and brain training exercises, as well as the strategies discussed above. However, there is not yet convincing evidence available for any of these.

Further research is ongoing to try to find other ways of preventing dementia.

What Are The Early Signs Of Dementia

The onset of dementia is not obvious because the early signs can be vague and quite subtle. The early symptoms usually depend on the kind of dementia that one has and therefore can vary greatly from one person to the next.

Even though the signs can vary, there are some that are quite common and they include:

• Depression, apathy, and withdrawal
• Memory issues, especially when it comes to the most recent events
• Inability to handle the everyday tasks

At times, it is easy to miss to appreciate that the above symptoms could be an indication of something that is not right. Yet there are those who assume that the signs are normal and are associated with aging. It is also possible for one to develop the symptoms in a gradual manner and they may go unnoticed for quite some time.

People may not act even when they can tell that something is definitely wrong. It is important to have a checklist of all signs related to dementia and get the person the needed help when several of such signs are observed. It is important to get a more detailed assessment.

Memory loss and dementia: while it is normal to forget some things and remember later, persons with dementia tend to forget more frequently and they do not remember later.

Tasks: distractions can happen and you may forget to, say, serve one part of the family meal. For a person that has dementia, preparing the meal could be problematic and they may actually forget some of the steps that are involved.

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What To Do If You Suspect Alzheimers Disease

Getting checked by your healthcare provider can help determine if the symptoms you are experiencing are related to Alzheimers disease, or a more treatable conditions such as a vitamin deficiency or a side effect from medication. Early and accurate diagnosis also provides opportunities for you and your family to consider financial planning, develop advance directives, enroll in clinical trials, and anticipate care needs.

Recognising When Someone Is Reaching The End Of Their Life

Read about some of the signs that a person with dementia is nearing their death, and how you can support yourself as a carer, friend or relative.

It is important to know when a person with dementia is nearing the end of their life because it can help in giving them the right care. However it can be difficult to know when this time is.

This uncertainty can have a big impact on how the persons family feel, and may also affect how they feel themselves.

There are symptoms in the later stages of dementia that can suggest the person is reaching the final stage of their illness. These include:

• speech limited to single words or phrases that may not make sense,
• needing help with most everyday activities,
• eating less and having difficulties swallowing,
• bowel and bladder incontinence,
• being unable to walk or stand, problems sitting up and controlling the head, and becoming bed-bound.

It is likely that a person with dementia is nearing the end of their life if they have these symptoms, along with other problems such as frailty, infections that keep coming back, and pressure ulcers .;

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