Dementia in the Elderly: The Silent Epidemic

doi:10.1059/0003-4819-97-2-231

Dementia in the Elderly: The Silent Epidemic

Los Angeles, California

Abstract

The graying of America will be accompanied by an epidemic of major proportions—dementia or intellectual impairment—that will have an impact on all aspects of the health care system, particularly on the institutional component of the long-term care system. Health professionals; federal, state, and local health planners; families; and others must recognize that many ameliorable or curable physical and emotional diseases in the elderly are associated with intellectual impairment that may be difficult to distinguish from irreversible brain disease of the Alzheimer type. We present information on the cause, Physiopathologic mechanism, clinical presentation, appropriate laboratory studies, and anticipated outcomes in the various forms of intellectual impairment found in the elderly. Important new developments will occur in the next decade that will address the cause, pathogenesis, further refinement of laboratory investigation, and specific therapeutic interventions in dementia.

Article and Author Information

▸An edited transcription of an Interdepartmental Conference arranged by the Department of Medicine of the UCLA School of Medicine; Los Angeles, California.
▸Authors who wish to cite a section of this conference and specifically indicate its author can use this example of the form of the reference:

BENSON DF. Clinical aspects of dementia, pp. 231-2. In: BECK JC, moderator. Dementia in the elderly: the silent epidemic. Ann Intern Med. 1982:97:231-41.
Grant support: grant NS 13871-1-3, U. S. Public Health Service.
▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to John C. Beck, M.D.; Department of Medicine, Multicampus Division of Geriatric Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, 10833 LeConte Avenue (CHS); Los Angeles, CA 90024.