2024-03-14 06:59:08
Director Lee Sang-seop of St. Mary’s Psychiatry Department
Dementia is a representative neuropsychiatric disease in which the normally mature brain is damaged by causes such as acquired trauma or disease, resulting in a decline in cognitive functions such as overall intelligence, learning, language, behavior, and mental functions.
It is generally known to occur in older people following the age of 65, but it can also occur at a relatively young age, so early diagnosis and prevention are important. In fact, over the past 10 years, the number of patients with early-onset dementia, which occurs before adulthood, has increased 3.6 times.
As of 2021, early-onset dementia patients in Korea were found to account for approximately 10% of all dementia patients, and dementia that develops between the late 40s and early 60s is called ‘premature dementia.’
Presenile dementia progresses faster and is more aggressive than general dementia. For example, symptoms such as not being able to find a route you are familiar with, not being able to continue a conversation because you do not understand the meaning of words, or not being able to remember the same story over and over once more may appear. In some cases, your personality may suddenly change or your judgment may become blurred. If these symptoms appear differently than usual, you need to suspect dementia regardless of age, and it is best to visit a medical institution as soon as possible and receive treatment.
Although the cause of dementia has not yet been clearly revealed, it is known that excessive stress, smartphone use, and bad drinking habits such as excessive drinking and binge drinking are factors. In addition, lifestyle habits that slow down brain function as we become more dependent on smartphones for everything from simple calculations to remembering phone numbers can also act as a cause of dementia.
Director Lee Sang-seop of St. Mary’s Psychiatry Department said, “Unlike the past, most diseases can be treated with the help of modern medicine, but there is still no treatment that can completely cure dementia. For this reason, if dementia is suspected, it is very important to detect and treat it early. “This is because starting treatment before symptoms appear in earnest can slow down the progression,” he explained.
Director Lee continued, “Dementia treatment is aimed at slowing down the progression through regular check-ups along with drug treatment. If you have any symptoms, even mild ones, that may suggest dementia, you should visit a medical institution, have sufficient consultation with the medical staff, and make an accurate diagnosis through cognitive function tests, neurocognitive tests, and imaging tests such as MRI or CT, and then develop a treatment plan. . “Above all, to prevent disease, you should develop the habit of calculating and remembering things on your own rather than relying on your smartphone or computer, and avoid binge drinking or excessive drinking as much as possible,” he added.<도움말: 성모연정신건강의학과 이상섭 원장>
1710402045
#Dementia #young #people #rise.. #Early #detection #prevention #achieved #regular #checkups
