MEDICAL CARE IN ELDERLY SUBJECTS WITH MENTAL HEALTH ALTERATIONS: ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, DEMENTIA AND VAGRANCY

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia are currently among the top ten causes of death worldwide, ranking 3rd in the Americas and Europe in 2019. Dementia is very common in older men and women; however, women account for 65% of worldwide deaths related to Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. As we know, mortality from COVID-19 among older people and people with comorbidities is much higher than in the general population. As the researchers tend to agree, dementia is associated with a higher risk of death in such patients. In the setting of COVID-19 pandemic, the management of elderly patients with dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms is a particularly challenging task, mainly due to the lack of routine screening programs for infection, isolation from family members who otherwise helped monitor the condition of their significant other, and due to a general lack of widespread use of non-pharmacological dementia treatments. Nurses are playing a primary role in the provision of such care by conducting all the necessary diagnostic, as well as therapeutic and preventive measures in elderly patients, and by providing advice to their relatives and significant others. The data for this project was to explore the modern options and characteristic features of providing medical care to elderly patients with mental health alterations, such as Alzheimer's disease, dementia and vagrancy. When studying the specific aspects of providing medical care to patients with Alzheimer's disease, dementia and vagrancy were used general clinical assessments, special methods for assessment of patients with dementia, collection of health history, collection of history of present disease, conducting patient monitoring, physical examination, conducting general health assessment, laboratory, instrumental and imaging tests. For the scientific analysis of study results, were used the scientific methods of comparison, system analysis and statistical methods. It was studied the specific aspects of mental alterations, clinical manifestations in Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia in the elderly, the specific aspects of development and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia in the elderly, was determined the most common risk factors for dementia of the elderly and Alzheimer's disease. The author have investigated and determined the modern options and prospects of various methods of treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia in the elderly.