Spain is the country in the European Union with the highest life expectancy: 84 years. Good news that is accompanied by an inevitable question: Under what health conditions can you reach that age? Among the most present fears is the risk of suffering from some type of dementia. At the University of Ohio they have thought that the strategy is prevention and for this they have created a self-test to identify the first symptoms.
In order not to worry before the bill, it is important to be clear about the differences between signs of cognitive decline inherent to advanced age and dementiaa group of symptoms that affect the memory, thinking and social skills and that interfere with the daily life of the affected person. Memory loss is one of the most significant alerts, but it is not in itself synonymous with dementia, since it can have diverse origins.
According to estimates by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, In Spain there are currently more than 900,000 people with dementiawith between 60 and 70 percent of the cases corresponding to Alzheimer’s disease. At the international level, the number exceeds 55 million people affected and Every year ten million new diagnoses are confirmed, according to the World Health Organization.
The importance of early detection
The diagnosis and prevalence figures are so important that The scientific community has redoubled its efforts in recent years in the field of research. Early detection It is, for expert voices, the key tool to confront the disease. Thus, they stand out changes in behavior or mood, sudden anxiety, social withdrawal, or impulsivity as signs that deserve special attention in this sense.
What exercises does the test contain?
Early detection of dementia has been the driving force of Ohio State University when developing a gerocognitive self-test and make it available to any interested person: Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam (SAGE). And although it seeks to evaluate cognitive functioning it also look for psychological warning signs that until recently went unnoticed in these diagnoses, such as depression.
The test includes questions based on mental, emotional and physical competence in order to evaluate cognitive, thinking and/or memory impairments. It is, as we say, free access and also It is translated into 12 languages, including Spanish. Its creators propose four models, to be carried out progressively, and they estimate that each of them can be done in less than 15 minutes minutes.
References
The Ohio State University (nd). SAGE: A Test to Detect Signs of Alzheimer’s and Dementia. https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/brain-spine-neuro/memory-disorders/sage
Mayo Clinic (sf). Dementia. https://www.mayoclinic.org/es/diseases-conditions/dementia/symptoms-causes/syc-20352013
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