Annotated Bibliography
Alzheimer’s Disease: Understanding How Down Syndrome Increase Risk. (2007). Web MD.
This online article tackles how Down syndrome increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Such article stresses that people with Down syndrome may experience health problems as they age that are similar to those experienced by older persons in the general population. People with Down syndrome also experience premature aging. The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease may be expressed differently among adults with Down syndrome. It was also noted in the article that estimates suggest that 25% or more of individuals with Down syndrome over age 35 show the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s-type dementia and that the percentage increases with age.
Ashford, J., Borson, S., O’Hara, P., Dash, P. Frank, L., Robert, P., Shankle, W., Tierney, M., Brodaty, H. and Schmitt, F. (2003). Should older adults be screened for dementia? It is important to screen for evidence of dementia., Alzheimer’s and Dementia, 3(2): 75-80.
This article discusses the importance of diagnosing dementia and the equal importance of having diagnosing mechanisms. Important to note is that persons with dementia are missing important clinical care and treatment interventions. The authors maintain that Dementia screening approaches, including cognitive testing and functional assessment, must be evaluated on their scientific merits, including sensitivity and specificity for recognizing affected individuals in at-risk populations and that screening tests must be “cost-worthy”, with the benefits of true-positive test results justifying the costs of testing and resolving false-positive cases, with due consideration for proper diagnostic evaluation and potential harms.
Dementia and intellectual disabilities. (2003). Alzheimer’s Disease International.
The number of people with intellectual disabilities affected by dementia and the number of people affected differently by Alzheimer’s disease is discussed in this article. In addition, the article also confers about how dementia is diagnosed in people with intellectual disabilities, the services that that dementia-affected individuals may require and that principles that should guide that care decisions of people with intellectual disabilities and dementia.
Growdon, J. (2008). Drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease Found to Slow Cognitive Decline: Benefits Last Years. Senior Journal Online.
Growdon maintains that the advance of Alzheimer’s disease can be significantly slowed by the extended treatment with available drugs through a combination therapy with two different classes of drugs that help patients maintain their ability to perform daily activities. The two types of medications have received FDA approval for Alzheimer’s treatment. These are cholinesterase inhibitors and the drug memantine. Although the model’s projection of future benefits is conservative, it predicted that the longer patients kept receiving combination therapy, the smaller their rate of decline would become, suggesting that treatment might even protect brain cells from further damage, a possibility needing further investigation.
Haan, M. (2008). Senior Citizens Reduce the Risk of Dementia by 50% by Taking Statins, Says Study.
Haan claim that some of the risk factors for dementia include high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and hypertension. The author also noted that the study did not look at statins as a treatment for existing dementia, only as a preventative. Statins are drugs that specifically lower LDL or bad cholesterol and are taken by millions of senior citizens hoping to avoid cardiovascular disease. The longitudinal study was originally funded in 1997 to look at metabolic and vascular conditions like hypertension and diabetes and their effect on the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. In this current study, Haan’s group set out to measure whether taking statins over time lowered the development of dementia in that same high-risk population. Of 1,674 participants who were free of dementia at the start of the study, 27 percent, or 452 people, took statins at some point in the study. Over the five-year follow up period, 130 participants developed dementia or cognitive impairment. Researchers adjusted for factors such as education, smoking status, the presence of a particular gene thought to predict dementia, and history of stroke or diabetes.
Mental Illness, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Older Adults. Department of Community Health. State of Michigan.
The article is about the development of mental illness in the early life and how the person’s life could be at risk because of these illnesses. It was argued that accurate assessment is critical, as memory loss is NOT a normal part of aging. The role of family caregivers were also discussed, and also how the risks could augment for them especially in terms of depression and other physical problems. How the settings for older adults who exhibit significant changes and disturbances in mood, cognition or behavior that may pose a danger to themselves or others could be increased is also addressed.
Mendez, M. (2005). Down syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and seizures. Brain and Development, 27(4): 246-252.
This journal article revealed that: Down syndrome patients aged over 45 years are significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than those less than 45 years and up to 84% demented individuals with Down syndrome develop seizures. Late-onset epilepsy in Down syndrome is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, while early-onset epilepsy is associated with an absence of dementia. In Alzheimer’s disease patients with a younger age of dementia onset are particularly susceptible to seizures. Down syndrome adults with epilepsy score significantly higher overall on the adaptive behaviour profile. Language function declined significantly more rapidly in Alzheimer’s disease patients with seizures.
Monath, J. (1997), Alzheimer’s Disease, Long-Term Care and Health Policy: Who’s Going to Pay the Bill?. Reference Services Review, 25(1): 7-23.
Abstract: Many people with Alzheimer’s disease need long-term care to help with activities of daily living. Annual costs are estimated at between billion and billion. Medicare does not cover this, and Medicaid help is limited. Longer life spans, shrinking savings rates, and increased costs of long-term care could spell financial disaster unless remedial steps are taken soon. In this article, Monath attempts to provide a substantive core selection of materials related to Alzheimer’s disease, long-term care, and health policy. Documents covered include journals, government documents, and grey literature. Having this knowledge, with facts and figures at hand, can help sway public officials to create policy that uses tax dollars wisely by investing in research that will find a cause, prevention, and possibly a cure for Alzheimer’s disease while saving taxpayers billions of dollars in the future.
Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain. The New York Times.
This research discovered that though some brains deteriorate with age, other brains became more capable of taking in more data and sifting the clutter of information which may be more beneficial in the long run. The researchers concluded that: “If older people are taking in more information from a situation, and they’re then able to combine it with their comparatively greater store of general knowledge, they’re going to have a nice advantage.”
Prasher, V. P., Metseagharun, T. and Hague, S. (2004). Weight Loss in Adults with Down Syndrome and with Dementia in Alzheimer’s Disease. Research in Developmental Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 25(1): 1-7.
This journal article is about a conducted 4-year longitudinal study of adults with Down syndrome with and without Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers discovered that age-associated weight loss is prevalent in all older adults with Down syndrome. Highlighting important research and clinical issues regarding weight loss and nutrition in Down syndrome adults with dementia, the study reveals the significant association between weight loss and Alzheimer’s disease was found for older adults with Down syndrome.
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