Dementia Case Study

Developmental Effects of Dementia Dementia, is defined by the Alzheimer 's Association as “a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life.”(“What is Dementia?”,2014) Dementia could be used to describe a range of symptoms which are characteristic with a wide range of diseases, although it is not a disease itself. Contrary to popular belief, dementia is not apart of the normal aging process and many steps can be taken to prevent this mental decline. Dementia is diagnosed by the DSM-5 by two symptoms. One, substantial decline in one or more of the following areas of cognitive function: memory and learning, attention, perceptual-motor, planning and decision making, language ability, and social cognition. Second, cognitive deficits interfere with independence. (Comer, 2014) Accounting for 60-80% of dementia cases is Alzheimer 's disease. (“What is Dementia?”, 2014) Followed by Vascular dementia which occurs after a stroke. Due to the wide range of symptoms associated with dementia there is no one test to diagnose it, and even after a diagnosis of dementia is reached it is not easy to categorize the type of dementia. Many dementia patients go

The patients who were kept in the study had received a dementia diagnosis by the third reassessment in order to see a change in costs from pre-dementia to post-dementia. Leicht et. al. Compared all patients in terms of impairment, and found no significant changes in cost for more severe dementia. They also recorded all healthcare costs regardless of if they were paid for out of pocket or by health insurance. It was found that those patients who were placed in nursing homes had significantly more costs than those who were cared for at home. However, as dementia progressed most patients were eventually