DEMENTIA

About:

• What is it? Dementia is a syndrome in which there is deterioration in memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday activities.
  
  
• Common forms of dementia: Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and may contribute to 60–70% of cases. Other major forms include
  • vascular dementia,
    
    
  • dementia with Lewy bodies (abnormal aggregates of protein that develop inside nerve cells), and
    
    
  • a group of diseases that contribute to frontotemporal dementia (degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain).
    
    
  
  
  
• Who are affected? Although dementia mainly affects older people, it is not a normal part of ageing. Further, dementia does not exclusively affect older people – young onset dementia (defined as the onset of symptoms before the age of 65 years) accounts for up to 9% of cases.
  
  
• Treatment: There is no cure for dementia. However, efforts to prevent dementia include trying to decrease risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and obesity.
  
  
• Global scenario: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally around 50 million people have dementia, and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year. China has the largest population of people with dementia.
  
  
• WHO response
  • In 2017, the World Health Assembly endorsed the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025.
    
    
  • WHO has developed iSupport, an e-health solution that provides information and skills training for carers of people living with dementia.
    
    
  • Dementia is also one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), which aims to scale-up care for mental, neurological and substance use disorders, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.