The World Alzheimer Report 2014 ‘Dementia and Risk Reduction: An analysis of protective and modifiable factors’, calls to integrate dementia into national public health programmes alongside other major non communicable diseases (NCDs).
The report calls for better management of diabetes, high blood pressure and discouraging smoking and to reduce cardiovascular risks as it may help reduce risk of dementia even later in life. The report says that diabetes can increase the risk of dementia by 50 per cent. Obesity and lack of physical activity are important risk factors that need targeted intervention.
With the NCDs becoming a major risk factor in the State’s public health, the State has to orient itself for taking care of the population that has high life expectancy. With a large elderly population and dementia prevalence, Kerala needs to make dementia a public health and social welfare priority, says Dr. Jacob K. Roy, chairman, Alzheimer’s Disease International.
The care and support needs of those with Alzheimer’s disease are specific and cannot be tackled along with general geriatric care. The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s always happens after the disease has well set in because many of the early symptoms are treated as the general problems of the geriatric population, says Dr. Roy, who founded the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India in 1993.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease need to be treated differently because 10-14 per cent of dementia cases are treatable, if detected early. With the growth of nuclear families, where both spouses would be working, there are no more care-givers in families here. Most families have no option but to hand over the care to hired help.
Unlike other States, which still need to get their basic health care right, Kerala is well-placed to establish a care model for the population with dementia, said Dr. Roy.