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Thursday March 28, 2024

‘Dementia must be treated as disease’

By Our Correspondent
October 08, 2021

LAHORE:Dementia is not just aging phenomenon as it is ranked as the seventh major cause of death among the aged patients.

“Dementia must be treated as a disease and, therefore, needs to be taken care of,” said Prof Dr Shahida Batool of Department of Psychology, Government College University while speaking at a virtual session on “Diagnosis of Dementia – What Next?” jointly organised by Alzheimer’s Pakistan and Pakistan Psychiatric Society here on Thursday.

Alzheimer’s Pakistan Secretary General Hussain Jafri moderated the session. Dr Shahida Batool quoted a US study terming dementia a morbidity that increased the risk of heart problems among patients. She said that initially the patients remained in denial then there came a stage of acceptance followed by management role. The members of those families are at more risk where there are already such patients in the family. Dementia increases eight percent every decade. She said, “We teach students about dementia description available in the syllabus. The students do internship while taking care of patients. We teach caregivers to give quality time to patients.”

Prof Dr Ather Javed, former president of Pakistan Society of Neurology, said that there was a good shift of average population without dementia as mostly those above 80 years of age were without dementia. Now, he said, the diagnosis was not rare and people also knew symptoms through available sources of information on social media. At an advanced Alzheimer’s disease, he said, the patients usually stop eating. The doctors modify treatment as much as the change in the disease takes place. He said that the patients must be given available medicines to slow down the disease and attempts should be made to remove depression from the patient. He said that the caregivers must not hurt the dignity of patients.

Prof Ali M Hashmi, professor of psychiatry, King Edward Medical University (KEMU) and PPS secretary, Punjab, said that caregivers also get affected when they offered round the clock care to patients in advanced disease. At the age of above 85 years, at least 25 percent people faced this disease. Dementia is present in Western countries, where age of people is long. Prof Dr Asad Tameezuddin, chairman, Institute of Psychiatry, Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) and PPS vice-president, said that dementia changes started at around three to four years before one got to know about the disease.

When the mild and moderate stages pass, the patients are taken to a health facility at a severe stage. Medicines also slow the process but do not reverse the disease. The patients develop psychiatric problems and experience changed behaviour. It is not a normal process if patients start losing memory at the age of 65.

Prof Dr Basharat Hussain, chairperson, Department of Sociology, University of Management and Technology (UMT), said “The family structure was breaking up but we are not prepared to accept and talk about nursing homes. We need to discuss these issues.” Sehar Raza, a family caregiver, emphasised on raising awareness not only in society but among doctors so that they might diagnose dementia at an early stage. “It is no more a taboo as we are talking about support that really makes a difference,” she added.

“The dementia must be treated as a disease and therefore needed to be taken care of,” Prof Dr Shahida Batool, Department of Psychology, GCU, while speaking at a virtual session on “Diagnosis of Dementia – What next?” jointly organized by Alzheimer’s Pakistan and Pakistan Psychiatric Society here on Thursday. The Alzheimer’s Pakistan Secretary General Hussain Jafri moderated the meeting.

Dr Shahida Batool quoted a US study terming dementia a morbidity that increased the risk of heart problems among patients. She said that initially the patients remain in denial then there comes a stage of acceptance followed by management role. The members of those families are more at risk where there are already such patients in the family. Dementia increases eight percent every decade. “We teach students about dementia description available in the syllabus. The students do internship while taking care of patients. We teach caregivers to give quality time to patients.

Prof Dr Ather Javed, ex-President of Pakistan Society of Neurology, said that there was a good shift of average population without dementia as mostly those above 80 years of age are without dementia. Now, he said, the diagnosis is not rare and people also know symptoms through available sources of information on social media.