Abstract
Co-/multi-morbidities are prevalent in the elderly. Some noteworthy examples include the elderly with dementia, for example, elderly with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease dementia and vascular dementia diagnoses. Based on high prevalence rates, the elderly with dementia is likely to experience more than one disease. Usual co-/multi-morbidities in the elderly with dementia are epilepsy, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. For this reason, healthcare providers are tremendously challenged with demands for treatment and therapy plans to improve the quality of life and overall well-being of the elderly and their families. This Chapter discusses these co-/multi-morbidities and aims to inspire the translation of this knowledge into specialised services and therapy plans for the elderly.
TopBackground
Healthcare systems constitute the financial and organisational planning of care distribution. They aim to improve health efficiently and effectively according to patients’ needs and available resources. The healthcare systems, such as organisations, institutions, public and private hospitals, primary and secondary health units, including medical doctors, nurses, and clinical staff, require a solid infrastructure to function correctly, for example, supplies of medical equipment, medication, and enough funding resources to assist with patients’ medical conditions (Demirkan, 2013). Healthcare should provide equitable access to care and support for the elderly population and prioritise treatment according to the case (Demirkan, 2013).
Dementia is one of the most significant global health challenges in the ageing population (Livingston et al., 2017). Even though research has shown that some life factors may influence and predict the presence of dementia, the healthcare systems’ priority is to delay the progression of the disease (Livingston et al., 2017). Most people who visit healthcare providers exhibit mild cognitive impairment with manageable symptom manifestations. However, whether the intervention is pharmacological, psychological, environmental, or social, it cannot cure the disease. The older the patients get, the higher the chance of co-/multi-morbidities appearing (Livingston et al., 2017).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Parkinson’s Disease: This is a progressive neurological disorder that exhibits movement malfunctions, for example, involuntary shaking, tremor, slow body movements, stiff, inflexible muscles, balance difficulties, depression, anxiety, insomnia, speech difficulties, concentration, and memory problems, due to abnormal brain activity, for example decreases in dopamine neurotransmitter, presence of Lewy bodies and increases in Alpha-synuclein protein.
Vascular Dementia: A type of dementia caused by decreased blood flow in the brain, due to diseased blood vessels in cortical and subcortical brain areas, causing progressive cognitive impairments such as problems with planning, organising, decision making, problem-solving, speech difficulties, concentration, memory, language and visuospatial deficits, apathy, depression, and anxiety.
Healthcare Systems: Consists of health services that include clinical staff members, facilities, and supplies, for example, medical equipment and medications, to provide and commission care in patients.
Dementia: A deteriorating and progressive brain disorder which is mainly characterised by loss of cognitive functioning and impacts greatly daily life, behavioural and emotional functioning with most common symptom the memory loss.
Multimorbidity: The presence of two or more health diseases/disorders that are either physiological or psychiatric in an individual.
Cardiovascular Disease: A medical condition that causes severe implications in the heart, blood vessels, and arteries, for example, atherosclerosis, and possible blood clots, which strain the heart and increase the risk of heart attacks and heart failure.
Epilepsy: A one lifelong neurological disorder characterised by a wide range of unpredictable seizures that are manifested with uncontrollable jerking, shaking, collapsing, and fainting in most of the cases due to abnormal brain activity.
Alzheimer’s Disease: A common brain disease that causes dementia, symptoms associated with executive functioning impairment, personality changes, hallucinations, and confusion due to the disruption of brain cells, for example, the formation of beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.
Diabetes: A lifelong chronic medical condition that causes increases in blood sugar levels due to minimal or no insulin production in the pancreas, and as a result, the body is unable to break down glucose into energy.