Introduction
The twenty first century has brought a lot of advances in various fields and science does not stop developing and evolving. Everyone wants to be healthy and live a long and happy life without worrying about sicknesses and diseases.
Although it is fair to say that numerous prior serious and even life-threatening illnesses and conditions are now entirely curable and less people die because of them at younger ages, it is important to realize that nowadays we are experiencing a very interesting demographic phenomenon in Asia and all over the globe.
Better health care and more treatment options have lead to more people living longer while fertility rates are very low, which means that in countries like Singapore the population is growing old. With being said, it is clear that priorities of medical professionals are shifting to provide much more attention to conditions that develop with age.
Dementia prevalence and incidence
The statistical data provided here exposes estimates of prevalence and incidence for the economy of Singapore for the period from 2005 to 2050. In this case, population is the determined population of the economy according to estimated of the United Nations for the given year. Prevalence is the quantity of individuals with dementia in the economy determined on the foundation of multiplication the matrix of prevalence rates by the matrix of population for the specified year. Incidence is the quantity of new cases of individuals with dementia, which was determined by multiplying the matrix of incidence rates to the matrix of population.
This way, for the 2005-year in Singapore the population estimates were 4,326,000 (Access Economics PTY Limited, 2006). Prevalence of dementia was determined to be 22,000, while incidence – 7,000. This means that the prevalence rate was 5.7 per cent. In 2010 the numbers grew with 4,591,00 for population, while prevalence was estimated to be 30,000 and incidence - 9,000. The prognosis for 2015 includes 4,986,000 in population, 53,000 prevalence and 16,000 in incidence. Thus, it was estimated that by 2050 the population would include 5,214,000, while the prevalence would be 187,00 and incidence – 57,000. This way, while the population is growing slowly, the rates of dementia occurring in the population are growing steady and strongly and this issue should be greatly addressed in Singapore, as well as other countries of Asia Pacifica Region.
What do we mean when we use the term dementia? Symptoms and signs of dementia
Dementia is a term we utilized to explain a syndrome, which means that it is a group or a collection of closely related symptoms that is connected with the progressing decline of the brain and its capabilities (Alzheimer’s Disease Association Singapore; Han et al., 2010; Nordqvist, 2009). It is the progressive weakening in cognitive function. The abilities that get influenced the most by this condition are: memory, clear thinking, language and talking, as well as understanding and judgement (Halte, Frank).
It was also estimated that individuals with dementia might become indifferent and apathetic. They can experience problems with showing and controlling their feelings and …