Obesity in USA: A Potential Cause of Dementia in Elderly? - Essay Sample

Introduction

With the physical manifestations of dementia explained by Dana in the primary diagnosis section, the 80-year-old can be directly linked with the suffering of dementia disorder. One significant aspect that I can add in this section is that recent studies have indicated that the prevalence of obesity in the USA has gone so high is continuing to grow uncontrollably. Perhaps, obesity is a well-known cause of cancer, and the presence of cancer may directly or indirectly lead to cardiovascular diseases (Barkhof & Buchem, 2016 ). Eventually, this is a significant cause of dementia. And so when the colleague typically mentions that the future prevalence and effects of dementia may be worse, then, the root cause may be as low as obesity.

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The Role of Patient History and Physical Exam

To address these concerns in medical hospitals, taking patient's history and physical exams would be most appropriate. For instance, to add on Dana's point, to be able to identify that the 80-year-old patient is suffering from dementia, the history would give a doctor the clue on what tests to carry out, since the first option would be to check for the presence of the previously identified disorder (Gans et al., 2015)). Physical exams, on the other hand, assists in knowing a patient's current condition, using the most recent observed signs and behaviours in the patient. In this case study, the patients present with symbols such as constant memory loss. Such symptoms can also help the nurses stipulate on what the medical tests to carry out.

Potential Treatment Options

To treat dementia, it is to first address all the possible causes of the disorder like depression, heart-related diseases or sometimes irritability. If I were to write the differential diagnosis section, I would have included these three major concerns to be the primary causes of Alzheimer's disease which I agree with Dana that it's the primary cause of dementia, for example in the USA. Offering therapy lessons to the patient would help in my view since it will make the patient stress-free, have extended hours of peaceful sleep and keep a jovial mood on all occasions. With such patient behavioural changes including taking of excellent and healthy meals that do not elevate the risks of cancer and high blood pressure which may again replicate depression, the patient would undergo the fastest form of treatment (Robinson et al., 2015). Although, if the effects persist after the diagnosis of the above conditions, then the patient can probably introduce the use of cholinesterase inhibitors to speed up the recovery process.

References

Barkhof, F., & van Buchem, M. A. (2016). Neuroimaging in dementia. In Diseases of the Brain, Head and Neck, Spine 2016-2019 (pp. 79-85). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-30081-8_10

Gans, S. L., Pols, M. A., Stoker, J., Boermeester, M. A., & Expert Steering Group. (2015). Guideline for the diagnostic pathway in patients with acute abdominal pain. Digestive Surgery, 32(1), 23-31. Retrieved from https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/371583

Robinson, L., Tang, E., & Taylor, J. P. (2015). Dementia: timely diagnosis and early intervention. Bmj, 350, h3029. Retrieved from https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h3029.full