Heart Disease and Alzheimer’s in Adult Women

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Patient Profile
Introduction Paragraph
Background Section
Literature Review
Research Project
Discussion
Personal Reflections
Conclusion
References

Abstract

The majority of epidemiological researches regarding the incidence and rate of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) infection show that it occurs to a greater extent in adult women when judged against the men. Studies affirm that heart failure is a major risk aspect of Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, women with AD tended to perform poorer than their male counterparts. More experiments and studies should be carried out to establish the most effective treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in adult women.

Patient Profile

Name: Martha Lopez

Date of Birth: 3/13/59

Age: 58

Sex: Female

Occupation: Head of Literature Department, Literature Professor

Marital Status: Married

Patient Demographics: The patient is a 58-year-old, married, female, of Mexican descent, who lives with her husband in Emeryville, California, in a three-bedroom house.

Familial History and Significant Relationships: The patient has been married for twenty-eight years. She has three children and five grandchildren. The patient’s mother recently died of complications from a heart attack in August 2016, which caused her father to move in with the patient. She describes her life as a mother as “gratifying” and “it kept me on my toes”.

Education and Employment History: The patient reported she is a college graduate and has a master’s degree in Victorian Literature. She described her academic life as “stressful” but “rewarding” and was never diagnosed with any learning disabilities as well as rarely struggling with grades. The patient is currently working full-time as a Literature professor at UC Berkeley, in a large lecture hall and serves as the head of the department for the university. She has been employed as a college professor for 20 years.

Presenting Issue: The patient was diagnosed with heart disease in early 2002; following her diagnosis, the patient has maintained good health. The patient follows-up with regular checkups and maintains a healthy lifestyle. Within the last year, her husband and colleagues have started noticing strange behavior and forgetfulness; beginning with missing a meeting that she conducts annually with the entire literature department. Concerns have arisen since, as she is now showing signs of being predisposed to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The patient’s husband describes what he has noticed about her as “abnormally forgetful” and “alarmingly frustrated with the little things”. The patient has consistently denied this, claiming it is a menopausal symptom. She has been experiencing problems with memory loss and regular confusion; sometimes accompanied by anger or mood swings.

Introduction Paragraph

Studies attribute gender differences in AD to the higher lifespan of females, in addition to lesser comorbidity than males (Viña & Lloret, 2010). It has been established that the sex hormones have a considerable impact on the brain and severe inadequacy in some adults may be a risk factor for AD. Elderly women may be more susceptible to suffering greater cognitive disorders all through the aging progression because of the hormonal shortfall. Disordered cognition in patients with heart failure results in considerably more and longer periods of hospitalization, as well as a higher mortality rate. Both heart failure and AD affect mainly adult women and augment the cost of care, which calls for the need to address the connection amid such conditions.

Background Section

Alzheimer’s disease is typified by a continued cognitive and operational decrease. The prevalence of AD also augments considerably with age, from about 0.4% every year at 65 to 69 years of age to approximately 7% at 85 to 89 years (Khundakar & Thomas, 2015). The level of adult women who have AD remains high be it in developing or developed nations. Depression, irritability, nervousness, and other changes in mood and diurnal rhythm are evident in AD diagnosis. Amid the crucial life occurrences linked with chronic stress and depression in adult women is widowhood. Stress-associated situations in such women encompass anxiety, sleeplessness, anger, distress, and reduced self-care.

Literature Review

Article 1

Benoit, M., Berrut, G., Doussaint, J., Bakchine, S., Bonin-Guillaume, S., Frémont, P., & Sellal, F. (2012). Apathy and depression in mild Alzheimer’s disease: A cross-sectional study using diagnostic criteria. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 31(2), 325-334.

Depression and apathy denote the most recurrent symptoms in AD. The major depressive symptoms encompass loss of strength, fatigue, reduced positive impact, or joy in response to cheerful occurrences, and retardation. For apathy, loss of objective-oriented cognition, action, and sentiment is mainly evident. Depression and apathy overlap noticeably, and this may be elucidated by the existence of non-specific symptoms. The requirement for social backing is greater in cases where patients satisfy both diagnostic criteria.

Article 2

Cermakova, P., Eriksdotter, M., Lund, L. H., Winblad, B., Religa, P., & Religa, D. (2015). Heart failure and Alzheimer′ s disease. Journal of Internal Medicine, 277(4), 406-425.

With increased connection involving AD, heart failure, and the impact of aging across the globe, high consideration ought to be centered on the discipline of neurocardiology, an area of expertise that deals with issues of brain and heart. Enhanced comprehension of such concerns might benefit elderly patients through the establishment of effective evidence-based treatment.

Article 3

Sharma, K., & Gulati, M. (2013). Coronary artery disease in women: A 2013 update. Global Heart, 8(2), 105-112.

Coronary artery disease (also referred to as heart disease) is a major cause of death in women and their male counterparts across the globe. The impact of heart disease on women has not been sufficiently addressed attributable to higher occurrences in young men. This establishes that effective treatment of heart disease will greatly benefit both adult women and young men.

Article 4

Viña, J., & Lloret, A. (2010). Why women have more Alzheimer’s disease than men: Gender and mitochondrial toxicity of amyloid-β peptide. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 20(2), 527-533.

The major risk aspects for the development of AD are gender and age where it has been found more frequent in adult women than men, a fact that cannot just be associated with the longer lifespan of females. It has been found that mitochondria from women are more safeguarded against amyloid-β toxicity, lead to less reactive oxygen varieties and discharge less apoptogenic indications when judged against men. To result in a successful finding, more experiments and medical trials are required to establish conditions where estrogenic compounds might be helpful to tackle or treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Article 5

Khundakar, A. A., & Thomas, A. J. (2015). Neuropathology of depression in Alzheimer’s disease: Current knowledge and the potential for new treatments. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 44(1), 27-41.

The treatment for AD has focused on successful antidepressant drug treatment anchored in the monoamine theory of depression. This study creates affluence of pathological information assessing depression in AD and connects that to present ideas on treatment aimed at creating a discussion on possible therapeutic approaches.

Research Project

Full Reference	In-depth Summary	Methods and Study Population	Results	Conclusion
Benoit, M., Berrut, G., Doussaint, J., Bakchine, S., Bonin-Guillaume, S., Frémont, P., & Sellal, F. (2012). Apathy and depression in mild Alzheimer’s disease: A cross-sectional study using diagnostic criteria. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 31(2), 325-334.	Apathy and depression act as the most common neuropsychiatric signs in AD	Cross-sectional observational study 734 subjects	Depression had a 48% incidence, and apathy had 42%	Patients having depression and apathy are more frequently in demand for resource allocation for dependency
Cermakova, P., Eriksdotter, M., Lund, L. H., Winblad, B., Religa, P., & Religa, D. (2015). Heart failure and Alzheimer′ s disease. Journal of Internal Medicine, 277(4), 406-425.	Heart failure has been established to be a risk factor for AD	Explanatory study None	In heart failure patients, a reduction in the rate of brain the natriuretic peptide is a result of donepezil treatment	The treatment of heart failure boosts cognition and hinders the commencement of dementia
Sharma, K., & Gulati, M. (2013). Coronary artery disease in women: A 2013 update. Global Heart, 8(2), 105-112.	Adult women and young men are affected heart disease	Explanatory study None	Heart disease does not just affect men and future research should address its impact on women	Considering gender equally when evaluating heart disease might boost its treatment in early discovery
Viña, J., & Lloret, A. (2010). Why women have more Alzheimer’s disease than men: Gender and mitochondrial toxicity of amyloid-β peptide. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 20(2), 527-533.	Gender and age are critical risk factors for AD	Explanatory study None	Ginkgo biloba fails to avoid the loss of cognition in AD	More researches should be conducted for enhanced success
Khundakar, A. A., & Thomas, A. J. (2015). Neuropathology of depression in Alzheimer’s disease: Current knowledge and the potential for new treatments. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 44(1), 27-41.	Depression is a symptom of AD	Explanatory study None	Antidepressants treat depression in AD	AD patients might gain from agents controlling glutamate transmission

Discussion

Research Weaknesses/Limitations

The limitation of this study was based on the few pages required which means that just a few articles could be used. This could have affected the reliability of the study compared to a situation where a wider pool of studies was consulted.

Research Strengths

The fact that all the articles employed in the study were peer-reviewed enhanced its reliability and reputation. Moreover, such articles boosted the significance of the research.

Future Research

Future studies should conduct a wider search to ensure that the most important articles in this field are employed in an effort of promoting the implication of the research. This could entail writing more pages to ensure that the work done is comprehensive.

Personal Reflections

The impact of depression and heart failure in AD resulted in the health condition of my grandmother deteriorating greatly before resulting in her death later. Depression in late-life had initially caused deficits in her performance for cognitive functions. I believe that with improved treatment approaches, the cost of care will be greatly reduced and the quality of care for AD patients will improve considerably.

Conclusion

Heart failure and depression in adult women with AD augment the cost of care. There is a need to address such conditions through improved treatment approaches. AD specialists should carry out more experiments to arrive at the most successful treatment.

References