Remove Alzheimer's social stigma ( 2003-09-18 08:36) (China Daily)
Patients with Alzheimer's disease are just like
sand sculptures standing in the desert, after a gust of wind, some sand will
fall off. As time goes by, the sculpture will gradually lose its original form.
Professor Yu Xin from Peking University's Institute of Psychology Sanitation
made these remarks at a seminar to mark World Alzheimer's Day, which falls on
September 21.
The proportion of senior citizens in China has grown rapidly as a result of
both greatly improved living standards and medical conditions, as well as the
adoption of the family planning policy.
The incidence of Alzheimer's disease increases with age. "One third of those
aged 85 are believed to suffer from some degree of Alzheimer's disease," said
Doctor Zhang Zhenxin from the neurology department of the Peking Union Medical
College Hospital.
Together with about 100 other doctors, Doctor Zhang has just completed a wide
epidemiologic survey, visiting about 42,000 people aged over 55 in Beijing,
Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shenyang.
The survey suggested for the first time that China is no longer a region with
a low incidence of dementia, with 6.9 per cent of people aged over 65 in the
north and 3.9 per cent of people aged over 65 in the south afflicted with the
disease.
Researchers found that Alzheimer's disease contributes to about 62.7 per cent
of all cases of senile dementia.
In another survey of 405 elderly people diagnosed as dementia cases by the
group, the researchers identified the following common signs of the disease,
memory loss, difficulty in performing familiar tasks, decreased judgment,
problems with numbers and disorientation with time and place.
However, as many as 60 per cent of the patients' families believed that those
symptoms were only natural age-related decline and did not take them as signs of
the disease.
The families mainly provide the most basic care for the patients, such as
ensuring that they are fed and helping to protect them from everyday dangers
around the home.
"Locking up the patients at home would be of no good to either them or their
families, and they should consult the doctors," said Doctor Zhang.
"Individuals with mid-stage Alzheimer's disease increasingly need help with
their customary daily activities, and it has inflicted a great economic and
emotional burden on their family members, whose normal arrangement of work and
study will also be heavily affected," said Professor Xu Xianhao, director of the
neurology department of the Beijing Hospital as well as the director of
Alzheimer's Disease China (ADC).
"It is hard for people to accept that their fathers or mothers living
together with them for decades suddenly step into another world and become
complete strangers," he added.
Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is an important step, because there
are several drug treatments that may improve or stabilize symptoms and several
care strategies and activities that may minimize or prevent behavioural
problems. However in China, its unique family structure and the social prejudice
against dementia patients bring great obstacles for early diagnosis.
Though the number of families with three generations living under the same
roof is decreasing, old people seldom live alone and are mostly taken care of by
their family, so it is not easy to find when they have developed signs of
impaired memory, such as forgetting to pay their water, electricity and gas
bills, Xu noted.
Also, the Chinese name for Alzheimer's disease contains a tone of insult, and
for a patient in the early stage, admitting that they have the disease is
harmful for their sense of self-respect. "They feel too uncomfortable to go to
the hospital to receive a diagnosis. Similarly for their families, accepting the
disease's name will be as difficult as accepting the patients being turned into
strangers by Alzheimer's," said Doctor Yu. He argued the necessity of finding
another Chinese term for Alzheimer's disease.
Doctors at the seminar all appealed to those aged over 50, especially those
with a family history of Alzheimer's disease, to care more about their mental
health, and suggest them to have at least one annual check-up.
Doctor Xu said that Alzheimer's Disease China had opened a free national
hotline - Senile Memory Disorder and Dementia (800-820-8220), the first of its
kind in the nation. The hotline will not only spread knowledge about Alzheimer's
disease, but also provide a room of privacy for patients and their families who
are reluctant to go to hospital.
"The hotline will be helpful in the early diagnosis of the disease and avoid
any unnecessary delay of treatment," said Doctor Xu.