Is financial situation related to Alzheimer’s?

  We discussed earlier that there is some relationship between growing up and education and Alzheimer’s, and there may be some relationship with their different economic levels. There are studies that have found that economic status is also associated with dementia.  The material base determines the superstructure. By the same token, a low economic level does not meet people’s material and cultural needs, nor does it allow them to get a good education and training, nor does it give them the opportunity to get a job, to read the newspaper, and to be in contact with people and social environment. Exercise and less, the brain is more prone to aging, which is the same reason as the above.  In addition, with the development of the global economy, medical technology, and the improvement of people’s living standards, people’s life expectancy is also increasing, so the number of elderly people is gradually increasing, and some people say that we have now entered an aging society. We already know that Alzheimer’s disease is closely related to old age. In other words, the older you are, the higher the incidence of dementia. Therefore, the number of people with dementia is now gradually increasing. According to some statistics, Alzheimer’s has become the fourth biggest killer that endangers the lives of the elderly, ranking in the top three just the cancer, heart disease and cerebrovascular disease that we all know very well. At the same time, Alzheimer’s also seriously affects the quality of life of the elderly and brings heavy psychological and economic burdens to families and society. It is said that the United States spends more than one hundred billion dollars a year for Alzheimer’s patients, and there are no corresponding statistics in China for the time being.  Where do these economies come from? We can analyze it.  In the case of the elderly themselves and their families, when the disease is mild, the patient may not be able to remember things, be emotionally unstable, or even have mental and behavioral abnormalities, which may cause them to be unable to work and live normally, and they may not be able to play their role and contribute to their families and society, such as working to earn some financial income, taking care of their grandchildren to reduce the pressure of their children, etc. They may also need family support for treatment and financial support. The family may also need to provide treatment and care for the patient, which will definitely increase the burden of the family. In severe cases, the patient may not be able to take care of himself or herself, and there will be various physical illnesses, so the family has to give him or her inpatient treatment and round-the-clock nursing care, which requires a lot of time, energy and financial resources as well as psychological burden.  As far as the medical service industry is concerned, Alzheimer’s patients need long-term and continuous treatment, and from the current point of view, the treatment effect is not ideal, and when their resistance decreases and various physical complications appear later, they need not only treatment of their own diseases but also treatment of their complications and long-term life care. We can imagine how big the medical expenses are for such treatment and care!  Then we look at the state and society, the Alzheimer’s patients’ ability to work and live is reduced, they cannot contribute to the society, and they can only ask for help from the society and family. Not only the labor force is reduced, but also the state and society have to invest a lot of medical resources in them, and spend a lot of human, material and financial resources to build dementia prevention and treatment institutions in order to relieve family pressure and promote social harmony. All of these require the state and society to invest a large amount of economic costs.