TEHRAN – A national plan for screening cognitive disorders, namely dementia and Alzheimer's, in the elderly aged 60 to 75 years is underway.

About five percent of people over 65 years old have moderate and severe dementia, Afrouz Saffarifar, an official with the Welfare Organization, said on Saturday.

The elderly population in Iran has doubled from five percent to 10 percent within 43 years (from 1976 to 2019), the official added.

“It is predicted that the population will reach 20 percent by 2041. So, we should prepare plans, otherwise, the aging population, which can be one of the opportunities for human life, will become a big challenge.

Dementia and Alzheimer's are among the disorders that cause severe destruction of memory, orientation, and cognition in a person. It also leads to a disorder in social functioning. So, the patient needs long-term care.”

If the diseases are detected a year earlier, the loss of memory can be postponed for five years, he highlighted.

In Iran, people born in the 1980s constitute the largest population group, who will enter old age in the next 20 or 30 years, so it is predicted that the prevalence of dementia will significantly increase in the future.

In general, neurodegenerative diseases in which brain tissue deteriorates are called dementia. There are different types of dementia, one of the most common types of which is Alzheimer's disease.

Other types of dementia include vascular dementia or a combination of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Less common types of dementia are also known as Lewy body dementia or frontotemporal dementia.

In diseases where the brain tissue is destroyed, in fact, the brain cells in certain parts of the brain are gradually destroyed and the brain has shrunk or atrophied, Maryam Abbasinejad, an expert in the mental health office of the Ministry of Health, has said.

Dementia symptoms are different depending on which part of the brain is more degraded. Symptoms may include memory problems, difficulty processing thoughts, speech problems, movement problems, loss of executive functions of the brain, or reduced learning ability, she explained.

Different pathways may lead to dementia. For example, the main cause of Alzheimer's is unknown, but it has been seen that some genetic factors influence its occurrence, but it is not necessarily a hereditary disease, but some genes related to Alzheimer's are known, she said.

In histological studies, they have seen that there are certain substances in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, and these substances have played a role in the degeneration of brain tissue, she added.

MG