Imperative to annually screen all adults older than 65 for cognitive impairment

by Medtalks Social Healthcare Learning Platform in New Delhi

A healthy lifestyle and physical activity can help prevent early memory loss

 

As per recent metrics, people aged 65 years and older should be screened every year for thinking and memory problems.[1] Early diagnosis can help detect the reversible forms of mild cognitive impairment such as those due to sleep problems, depression or medications followed by timely intervention. Documenting mild cognitive impairment in the medical record also helps to alert other physicians and medical staff so that the best care is provided to that patient.

 

The metrics also include advise for doctors on measuring how often they perform annual cognitive screenings to improve the recognition of mild cognitive impairment and allow for earlier intervention. It suggested that doctors must identify care partners to help describe symptoms. A detailed webinar on how to check for cognitive function can be accessed at https://www.medtalks.in/articles/how-should-we-check-for-cognitive-function.

 

Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr KK Aggarwal, President, HCFI and CMAAO, said, “There are five tests to diagnose cognitive function. Immediate memory: while talking suddenly divert the patient and see if they forget what they were talking about. In this, there can be impairment of naming objects or names. One can also ask them about calculation, something that they might again forget. Ask for near or far distinguishing object. Also, a patient with cognitive impairment cannot reason out and might have impaired language.”

 

Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, said, “The normal cognitive decline associated with aging consists primarily of mild changes in memory and the rate of information processing, which is not progressive and does not affect daily function. Learning or acquisition performance decline uniformly with age. Delayed recall or forgetting remains relatively stable. Aging is associated with a decline in the acquisition and early retrieval of new information but not in memory retention.”

 

Some tips to prevent cognitive decline

 

·         Maintain a healthy weight.

·         Eat mindfully. Include vegetables and fruits; whole grains; fish, lean poultry, tofu, and beans and other legumes as protein sources; and healthy fats in your diet.

·         Exercise regularly for about 30 minutes every day as this helps improve blood flow to the brain.

·         Keep an eye on important health numbers such as cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood sugar.

·         Exercise the brain through puzzles, crosswords, and other memory games.

 

About Medtalks

Medtalks is the leading Indian platform for medical webinars making the latest research more accessible to doctors via live and recorded webinars updated weekly. Medtalks uses an advanced search feature that allows doctors to find and discover relevant content using hashtags and predictive search features. Setting your preferences will allow the system to suggest new content related to you better. The medical content provided through Medtalks are given by Doctors specialized in their fields.

 

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Created on Nov 26th 2019 02:30. Viewed 400 times.

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