Public Health Report: Dementia in Australia - Analysis and Strategies

This report addresses dementia as a significant public health concern, focusing on its neurological characteristics and global impact. It details the disease's symptoms, stages, and the substantial number of individuals affected worldwide, highlighting the projected increase in cases. The report specifically examines the situation in Australia, including the prevalence, mortality rates, and economic costs associated with dementia. It explores the social determinants influencing the risk of dementia, such as age, socioeconomic status, family support, and education levels. Furthermore, the report discusses community health issues, targeting older adults and focusing on early diagnosis and treatment to slow disease progression. It outlines various prevention programs and strategies, including mental activities, dietary recommendations, physical exercise, and moderate alcohol consumption. The report also references Australia's National Framework for Action on Dementia and provides statistical data to support the analysis. Finally, it provides an overview of the disease and the associated preventative measures.

The health issue of dementia refers to the neurological
syndrome that is characterised by a gradual deterioration in
the cognitive capabilities of an individual, beyond what is
anticipated from normal ageing. This condition affects
thinking, memory, comprehension, orientation, calculation,
language, learning capacity, and judgement. The early
stages of dementia are generally overlooked, however the
common symptoms comprise of losing track, forgetfulness,
and getting lost at familiar locations (Livingston et al.
2017). During middle and late stages, the patients generally
report communication problems, require assistance during
personal care, manifest repeated questioning and wandering,
cannot recognise relatives and acquaintances, face problems
in walking and experience changes in behaviour that
generally escalates to aggression.
Target population
Social determinants
Dementia in Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Globally, there are around 50 million individuals who are
affected with this chronic disease and an estimated 10
million new cases of dementia are identified every year.
According to the World Health Organisation (2019) the
total number of individuals with dementia is anticipated to
reach around 82 million people in 2030 and 152 million in
2050. In the year 2017, dementia had been identified as
the second leading reason for death in Australia. There are
approximately 9 in 10 hospitalisations due to dementia
that encompass at least one overnight visit to the hospital.
In 2016-17, there were around 58,500 people, aged more
than 30 years who had been prescribed anti-dementia
medicines, and three out of four people under dementia
medications had also been given drugs for management of
cardiovascular problems. It has also been found that 71%
cases of dementia hospitalisations have been identified to
be of maximum clinical difficulty (AIHW 2018).
Dementia is one of the chief reasons for disability and
dependence amid older individuals all across the globe.
This not only creates an impact on the patients, but also
affects their family members and carers.
Age acts the major social determinant since with an increase
in age, the risk of suffering from dementia increases.
Dementia is more common among people who belong to
poor socioeconomic section of the society (Boustani et al.
2019). This can be accredited to the fact that socioeconomic
status affects cognitive performance, thus increasing the
likelihood of suffering from dementia. Poor functioning of
families and inadequate family support are also likely to
bring about a reduction in the time expended on self-care,
thus increasing dementia risks (Vega et al. 2017). Moreover,
low level of educational attainment is also correlated with an
increased dementia risk since increased educational level
offer individuals with particular cognitive reserve (Xu et al.
2016). Moreover, presence of particular cardiovascular
complications during midlife, increased blood pressure,
cigarette smoking and diabetes mellitus also make adults
more susceptible to acquire dementia at a later stage in their
life (Stefanidis et al. 2018).
Community health issue
The condition affects older adults, particularly those who
are aged more than 65 years. It particularly affects people
residing in low- and middle-income nations. However, the
disorder can also create an impact on younger individuals.
Quick onset of the disease typically occurs when
individuals are in 30s or 50s (Jan, Mushtaq and Bhat 2019).
Promoting early diagnosis and treatment helps in decreasing
the progression of the disease, thereby facilitating
maintenance of sound mental function.
Burden of the disease Prevention
The aim of all prevention programs is to delay the onset of
dementia in the target population. Recent initiatives
comprise of the foundation of the International Research
Network on Dementia Prevention (IRNDP) that has the
purpose to develop connection between researchers in this
domain, and the formation of the Global Dementia
Observatory, which is a web-based data exchange and
knowledge platform, developed in order to organise and
broadcast key dementia facts from members federations
(Glymour and Whitmer 2019). Some mental activities that
help in preventing dementia are playing musical
instruments, reading, and board games and learning new
languages. Showing adherence to a Mediterranean diet
that is based on vegetables, fruits, and fish also delays
cognitive decline. According to Trigiani and Hamel (2017)
physical exercise creates a substantial and constant
protective influence against cognitive decline, with great
intensities of physical activity acting most operative. It
leads to the release of brain-derived neurotrophic
factor (BDNF) that facilitates neuron development,
plasticity and survival. Moderate alcohol consumption also
decreases risk of dementia and vascular disease by
increasing HDL cholesterol levels in the blood, and
weakening the blood-clotting agent fibrinogen (Xu et al.
2017). A sleep cycle for more than nine hours has also
been correlated with decreased dementia risk. Non-
steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have also
been postulated to reduce the risk of being affected with
Alzheimer's disease. Australia’s National Framework for
Action on Dementia 2015 – 2019 has been developed in
order guide the formulation and enforcement of plans,
actions, and policies for decreasing dementia risk
(Department of Health 2019). It focuses on increasing
awareness, accessing care, providing support after
diagnosis, providing timely diagnosis, increasing access to
palliative and end-of-life are, and promoting research in
this field.
Figure 2- Estimated number of people with
dementia, by sex, 2005-2050
Source- (AIHW 2016)
Figure 3- Dementia prevalence estimates by State in
2018
Source- (Borello 2018)
Figure 1- Economic costs of dementia in Australia
2016-2056
Source- (Dementia Australia 2019)

References
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