Chapter 15: Neurocognitive Disorders

Question 1

Neurocognitive Disorders

Answer 1

• affect learning, memory, and consciousness
• develop later in life
• some urinary tract infections can cause symptoms

Question 2

Types of Memory (3)

Answer 2

Episodic: things that have been experienced, have autobiographical quality
Semantic: facts that aren’t directly related to oneself (think school textbooks)
Procedural: motor skills

Question 3

Delirium

Answer 3

characterised by impaired consciousness and cognitions lasting several hours or days
- disorientation, out of touch with reality
- attention cannot be maintained
- impairments in memory/language

Question 4

Delirium Prevalence

Answer 4

• mostly older adults, cancer patients, those with AIDS, and those undergoing medical procedures
• 40-50% of people with Delirium die within 1 year

Question 5

Delirium Etiology

Answer 5

• intro of drugs/poisons into the body
  
  • e.g. molly and bathsalts
• older adults are bad at getting rid of drugs
• experienced by children with fevers or on certain medications; often confused with noncompliance
• happens during dementia
• withdrawal of anxiolytic drugs
• infection

Question 6

Delirium Treatments

Answer 6

• addressing the underlying causes first
• antipsychotics
• psychosocial intervention (having familiar objects and family around)
• keeping the patient as independent and in control as possible

Question 7

Delirium Prevention

Answer 7

• proper care for medical illnesses
• therapeutic drug monititoring
• Multidisciplinary interventions
  
  • reorienting the patient, getting sensory aids, increased sleep, hydration and nutrition, etc

Question 8

Major and Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

Answer 8

major: formerly called dementia
mild: classification for early stages of cognitive decline

Question 9

Major and Mild Cognitive Disorder Types (13)

Answer 9

• due to Alzheimer’s
• due to frontotemporal damage
• with Lewy Bodies (motor control dysfunction is highly significant)
• vascular (anything doing with the arteries and blood flow)
• due to traumatic brain injury
• induced by substance or medication
• due to HIV
• due to prion disease
• due to Parkinson’s
• due to Huntingson’s
• due to another medical condition
• due to multiple etiologies
• unspecified

Question 10

Major and Mild Neurocognitive Disorder Etiologies

Answer 10

• deterministic and susceptibility genes
• substance abuse
• lifestyle choices
• cultural factors

Question 11

Major and Mild Neurocognitive Disorder Prevalence

Answer 11

1/25 for 65+
1/5 for 85+
5 million Americans
> common for < educated
> common for women

Question 12

Course of Major and Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

Answer 12

• early onset: 40-50
• usual onset: 60-70s
• memory and visuospatial impairment
• facial agnosia (inability to recognise familiar faces)
• delusions, apathy, depression, agitation, aggression
• early stages/late stages are slow but the middle stages are rapid
• 50% are due to Alzheimers

Question 13

Different Symptoms (3)

Answer 13

• aphasia
• apraxia
• agnosia

Question 14

Aphasia

Answer 14

difficulty with language

Question 15

Apraxia

Answer 15

impaired motor functioning

Question 16

Agnosia

Answer 16

failure to recognise objects

Question 17

Sandwich Generation

Answer 17

those that are both taking care of their elderly parents and taking care of their children

Question 18

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Answer 18

caused by continuous blows to the head, not quite concussions but pretty close
- usually categorised as “other”
- usual onset in 40-50s
- punch drunk = CTE