Dementia A growing social problem

Dementia is becoming a growing social problem

29/08/2011

More than one million people in Germany suffer from the neurodegenerative disease dementia - with a strong upward trend. By the year 2050, the number of dementia patients requiring care will probably double, according to the statement in the Dementia Report 2011 of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development. This involves considerable challenges for the health system and the relatives of those affected.

On the theme days „Care of people with dementia“ On September 28, the experts will therefore present and discuss current care concepts, among other things. If no breakthrough in the treatment of dementia succeeds in the next few years, it will become a whole „normal concomitant of the age“, as the presentation of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development. According to the experts, the number of people affected by demographic change is increasing dramatically. At the same time, the care options in the family are dwindling, as fewer and fewer young people are available to take care of the elderly at home, warns the German Alzheimer's Association.

2.6 million dementia patients in 2050
According to the Dementia Report 2011, around 1.3 million people in Germany are already suffering from dementia, two-thirds of them suffering from Alzheimer's. By 2030, the number of dementia patients requiring care is expected to increase to two million, and even to 2.6 million by 2050, according to the Berlin Institute for Population and Development. While the number „In the case of patients with dementia who are in need of care, the care options within families are reduced and professional caregivers can not compensate for this“, said the managing director of the German Alzheimer's Association, Sabine Jansen, in the run-up to the theme day „Care of people with dementia“. Especially in those regions that are already experiencing significant population decline and significant aging due to migration losses, Sabine Jansen believes that the growing number of dementia patients could become a serious societal problem in the coming years. According to the experts, these sprawling, underdeveloped regions include, inter alia, large parts of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, peripheral areas of Brandenburg as well as some peripheral regions in Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony. The average proportion of dementia patients in the population reaches up to 2,190 persons per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas on average only around 1,600 diseases per 100,000 inhabitants occur across Germany, the expert emphasized.

Care by family members
In Alzheimer's, as the most common form of dementia diseases, protein deposits form in the brain of the affected person, thus disturbing the transmission of stimuli between the brain cells and cause a permanent death of the brain cells and a complete memory loss of patients. The affected people not only learn knowledge, but also lose their personality as the disease progresses. As Alzheimer's patients increasingly lose their temporal and spatial orientation, they are dependent on intensive care around the clock. According to the German Alzheimer Society, around two-thirds of those affected are cared for by family members at home. The social association VDK therefore pleaded at the beginning of the year to include dementia patients more in the long-term care insurance, because „Home care is a good example of solid generation solidarity“, said the president of the social association, Ulrike Mascher. According to the expert, the care of dementia patients is often a huge burden on relatives, but it is almost impossible to accommodate all those affected in appropriate care facilities for reasons of capacity.

As a result, family caregiving will continue to play a key role in the care of dementia patients, Sabine Jansen explained. But in the course of demographic change, not only the number of patients increases, but in parallel also decreases the number of people who could take care of the dementia patients. In addition, in the structurally weak regions, the nursing staff needed for the professional care of patients, even today increasingly scarce, so continues the expert. Thus dementia patients „We need new concepts as long as possible to stay in their homes and participate in social life“, demanded therefore the managing director of the German Alzheimer society. These new approaches to the care of Alzheimer's and dementia patients should be the focus of the theme days „Care of people with dementia“ stand.

New ways in the care of dementia patients
Sabine Jansen mentioned, among other things, a special preparation of hospitals for the growing number of patients as an example of a future-oriented design for the care of dementia patients. As a positive example, the expert referred to the „Free State of Bavaria“, Where „in collaboration with the Alzheimer companies at seven locations including hospital staff trained in a model project“ become. Similar initiatives exist, for example, in Lower Saxony. In addition, new approaches are required to achieve a better interaction of professional care and volunteer care, according to Jansen. Exist for this „first approaches, from the short training of lay helpers to voluntary work, in the dignified care of dying“, which should be further expanded, explained the managing director of the German Alzheimer's Association. A positive example is, for example, the dementia competence center established in 2011 in Schleswig-Holstein, which bundles existing offers and technical exchange with the financial support of the state government. That too „Mehrgenerationenhaus Norden in Lower Saxony“ according to the expert is one of the positive example of the care of dementia patients. For example, dementia patients are included here on special days of meetings between residents of nursing homes and day-care centers. As part of the theme day, the work of additional multi-generation houses will also be presented in Leipzig, which increasingly open their day offers such as yoga classes or dance groups for dementia patients, reported the managing director of the German Alzheimer's Association.

However, the establishment of appropriate care options is only one side of the coin to ensure the supply of dementia patients in the future, said Knut Bräunlich, Chairman of the Alzheimer's Society of Saxony and Managing Director of social service gGmbH the city of Rochlitz compared to „Hamburger Abendblatt“. For Knut Bräunlich, remedying the differences in the nursing rates paid in eastern and western Germany is an essential prerequisite for ensuring adequate patient care. „Between stationary institutions in Saxony and Baden-Württemberg, these (differences) amount to, for example, up to 800 euros per month per care level and case“, stressed the expert. In this way, the conditions in the already structurally weak regions will continue to deteriorate, according to the chairman of the Alzheimer's Society of Saxony. The president of the social association VdK Germany, Ulrike Mascher, generally demanded more financial support to ensure adequate care for people with dementia. A moderate increase in contributions to the statutory long-term care insurance with equal participation of employers is acceptable, „if necessary performance improvements are reliably financed solidarily for a longer period of time“, explained Ulrike Mascher. (Fp)

Also read:
World Alzheimer's Day: Experts warn against dementia
Dementia becomes a common disease
Age dementia in Germany on the rise
Dementia and Alzheimer's
Dementia: holistic treatment approach
Overmedication of dementia patients

Image: Anja Wichmann / edited: Gerd Altmann