Alzheimer’s Disease: Problems, Prospects, and Perspectives

✍ Scribed by Barry Reisberg, Jeffrey Borenstein, Emile Franssen, Stacy Salob, Gertrude Steinberg (auth.), Harvey J. Altman Ph.D. (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 386
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Alzheimer's disease is a primary neurodegenerative disease whose incidence and prevalence is rapidly approaching epidemic proportions. A major reason for this is that man is living longer than he has ever lived before and the likelihood of contracting the disease is significantly greater within the elderly portion of the population. The problem becomes even more acute in the light of recent estimates which predict that the number of people living beyond the age of 65 is expected to continue to increase. The impact of these statistics on the family and the health care industry in terms of time, effort and cost are staggering. A recent report issued by the Michigan Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Conditions (1987) effectively underscores this last point. "Each person with a dementing disease requires an average of seven years of care, either at home or in a residential care facility. Care provided at home is estimated to cost about $12,000 annually, for a total of $84,000 per person. This is a conservative figure, however, because many persons with dementia spend their last few years in a nursing home at an average 'cost of $22,000 per year, and some spend from 10 to 15 years in a nursing home, for a total cost of $220,000 to $330,000.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
BEHAVE-AD: A Clinical Rating Scale for the Assessment of Pharmacologically Remediable Behavioral Symptomatology in Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 1-16
Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease by Dermatoglyphic Discriminants....Pages 17-28
Dementia, Depression, and Pseudodementia....Pages 29-44
The Epidemiology of the Concurrence of Depression and Dementia....Pages 45-57
Cognitive Function and Brain-Adrenal Axis Activity in Aging, Depression and Dementia....Pages 59-66
From Family Studies to Molecular Hypothesis in Alzheimer’s Dementia....Pages 67-74
Scrapie Prions, Amyloid Plaques, and a Possible Link with Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 75-86
Alzheimer’s Disease, Down Syndrome, and Parkinson’s Disease: Selected Pathologic Features....Pages 87-97
Neurotransmitters in the Ageing Brain and Dementia....Pages 99-112
Sleep, EEG and Sleep Disorders in Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 113-128
On Possible Relationships between Alzheimer’s Disease, Age-Related Memory Loss and the Development of Animal Models....Pages 129-139
Serotonin, Alzheimer’s Disease and Learning and Memory in Animals....Pages 141-156
Intracranial Cholinergic Drug Infusion in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 157-163
Neural Implants: A Strategy for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 165-170
Treatment of the Depressed Elderly Patient....Pages 171-181
Status of Alzheimer Disease Research....Pages 183-189
Gatekeepers: Changing Roles and Responsibilities for Primary Care Physicians with Aging Family Systems....Pages 191-195
Adrda and the Physician....Pages 197-199
Home Health Care for Victims of Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 201-207
Understanding Progressive Dementia: Making a Case for the Case History....Pages 209-212
Exercise Treatment for Wandering Behavior....Pages 213-218
The Relationship between Confusion and Abuse....Pages 219-223
A Systematic Approach to the Nursing Care of Acutely Ill Geriatric Patients with Cognitive Impairment....Pages 225-233
Urine Control in Patients with Chronic Degenerative Brain Disease....Pages 235-247
Cognitive Psychopathology and the Phenomenon of Wandering: Research and Clinical Nursing Approaches....Pages 249-258
Sleep and Dementia: Nursing Care Considerations....Pages 259-264
Nursing Care of the Human with Cognitive Loss....Pages 265-270
Patient Behavior, Care Needs, Personalized Community Resources of Both Institutionalized and Non-Institutionalized Alzheimer’s Patients....Pages 271-277
Creating Ties and Maintaining Support: Networking and Self Help....Pages 279-284
The Family Caregiving Role: Stresses and Effective Coping....Pages 285-289
Patterns of Functioning and Coping in Black Families: Caring for Physically Disabled Elders....Pages 291-300
Designing Services for the Minority Aged....Pages 301-307
Environmental Design and Mentally Impaired Older People....Pages 309-320
Overcoming Problems in Modifying the Environment....Pages 321-328
When to Discontinue Home Care: The Caregiving Family’s Dilemma....Pages 329-334
Developing Institutional Policies to Obviate Agonizing Over Complex Ethical, Dilemmas....Pages 335-339
Alzheimer’s Disease: Legal Issues....Pages 341-345
Clarifying Who Decides....Pages 347-355
Legislative Advocacy and Alzheimer’s Disease: The California Experience....Pages 357-361
A Public Policy Design Strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 363-369
Public Policy and Long Term Care: Domestic and International Perspectives....Pages 371-387
Back Matter....Pages 389-397

✦ Subjects

Infectious Diseases