The dementia epidemic in Russia turned out to be worse than AIDS
Unlike HIV, no one systematically deals with this problem
While HIV is mowing down young people and partly middle age, the older generation almost entirely suffers from dementia at different stages of development. If they are still trying to fight HIV in Russia, despite the opposition of the church and even the Federal Drug Control Service, then no one systematically deals with the problems of dementia in the elderly.
Three out of four elderly people in Russia suffer from dementia to varying degrees. Such data were obtained during the study "Babushkologiya", conducted in 17 cities of the country as part of the social project "Memini", writes Moskovsky Komsomolets.
The first stage of the study was conducted in May, while in a number of cities it was timed to coincide with the celebration of Victory Day. The sites for mass free testing worked in 17 cities of the country located in 8 federal districts. They worked both in the open air and on the territory of clinics, in veterans' hospitals and pharmacies.
According to the results of the first stage of screening, three quarters of senior citizens had cognitive impairments of varying severity. At the same time, a characteristic feature is that none of them even suspected that they had any deviations.
"The fact that people had no idea that they had certain cognitive impairments speaks volumes about the fact that the problem is more urgent for Russia than ever. Of course, according to the results of the screening, everyone who needed it received recommendations for contacting a doctor, but for a real improvement in the situation, it is necessary to cover orders of magnitude more people. We managed to tell tens of thousands of families about the problem, but of course we will not stop there," the publication quotes the comment of Alexander Sonin, doctor of psychology, cognitive scientist, head of the Memini project.
According to the most conservative estimates, about 1.5 million people suffer from dementia in Russia, i.e. twice as many as from AIDS. At the same time, there is not a single state program in our country aimed at combating dementia.
"To our great regret, very little attention is paid to the problem of dementia in Russia. That is why, within the framework of our project, we touch on a variety of aspects related to dementia, including inventing and conducting annual large-scale actions to attract the attention of residents of our country to this problem. This year we decided to organize the All-Russian screening of pre-dement disorders "Babushkologiya", thanks to which elderly people in different cities of the country would have the opportunity to be tested for the presence of symptoms of forgetfulness, absent-mindedness and other memory disorders. Screening of disorders preceding dementia is a key direction in the fight against this disease. Modern medicine does not yet know how to deal with its main causes, therefore, the sooner it is possible to identify the problem and start supportive therapy, the more opportunities there are to delay the onset of severe stages as much as possible," psychologists explain.
It should be noted that for the prevention of dementia, the organization of sports leisure and a special type of social and medical care for pensioners could also serve as part of the activities of "integrated social service centers" operating throughout the country. So far, for the elderly, CCSS provide, mainly, only recreational leisure or social assistance in the form of nurse services, home delivery, etc.
Meanwhile, both domestic and Western scientists are unanimous – physical education is able to save from mental disorders, at least by delaying their development. "It has long been known that physical inactivity leads to the development of chronic diseases (arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis, etc.) and increases the risk of mental disorders. Which is easily explained. With a sedentary lifestyle, the overall metabolism decreases, all metabolic processes slow down and the synthesis of neurohormones, including the hormone of joy serotonin, worsens. And the more of it, the happier we live. During regular physical activity (fitness, aerobics), serotonin levels increase. By the way, high physical activity significantly reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, leading to dementia," the professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Narcology of the First Moscow State Medical University noted earlier. Sechenova Yuri Sivolap.
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21.07.2015