Prevalence of Comorbidities in Individuals Diagnosed and Undiagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in León, Spain and a Proposal for Contingency Procedures to Follow in the Case of Emergencies Involving People with Alzheimer’s Disease

Tortajada-Soler, Macrina; Sánchez-Valdeón, Leticia; Blanco-Nistal, Marta; Benítez-Andrades, José Alberto; Liébana-Presa, Cristina; Bayón-Darkistade, Enrique

doi:10.3390/ijerph17103398

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

Printed Edition

A printed edition of this Special Issue is available at MDPI Books....

...

Open AccessArticle

Prevalence of Comorbidities in Individuals Diagnosed and Undiagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in León, Spain and a Proposal for Contingency Procedures to Follow in the Case of Emergencies Involving People with Alzheimer’s Disease

Macrina Tortajada-Soler

Leticia Sánchez-Valdeón

^2,*

Marta Blanco-Nistal

³,

José Alberto Benítez-Andrades

⁴

Cristina Liébana-Presa

and

Enrique Bayón-Darkistade

Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Campus de Vegazana, Universidad de León, s/n, C.P. 24071 León, Spain

SALBIS Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Campus de Ponferrada, Universidad de León, Avda/ Astorga s/n, C.P. 24402 Ponferrada (León), Spain

Complejo Asistencial Universitario de León, C/ Altos de nava s/n, C.P. 24001 León, Spain

⁴

SALBIS Research Group, Department of Electric, Systems and Automatics Engineering, University of León, s/n, 24071 León, Spain

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(10), 3398; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103398

Received: 23 April 2020 / Revised: 9 May 2020 / Accepted: 12 May 2020 / Published: 13 May 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nursing and Society)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Review Reports Citation Export

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which is the most common type of dementia is characterized by mental or cognitive disorders. People suffering with this condition find it inherently difficult to communicate and describe symptoms. As a consequence, both detection and treatment of comorbidities associated with Alzheimer’s disease are substantially impaired. Equally, action protocols in the case of emergencies must be clearly formulated and stated. Methods: We performed a bibliography search followed by an observational and cross-sectional study involving a thorough review of medical records. A group of AD patients was compared with a control group. Each group consisted of 100 people and were all León residents aged ≥65 years. Results: The following comorbidities were found to be associated with AD: cataracts, urinary incontinence, osteoarthritis, hearing loss, osteoporosis, and personality disorders. The most frequent comorbidities in the control group were the following: eye strain, stroke, vertigo, as well as circulatory and respiratory disorders. Comorbidities with a similar incidence in both groups included type 2 diabetes mellitus, glaucoma, depression, obesity, arthritis, and anxiety. We also reviewed emergency procedures employed in the case of an emergency involving an AD patient. Conclusions: Some comorbidities were present in both the AD and control groups, while others were found in the AD group and not in the control group, and vice versa. View Full-Text

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; comorbidity; older adults; elderly

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Tortajada-Soler, M.; Sánchez-Valdeón, L.; Blanco-Nistal, M.; Benítez-Andrades, J.A.; Liébana-Presa, C.; Bayón-Darkistade, E. Prevalence of Comorbidities in Individuals Diagnosed and Undiagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in León, Spain and a Proposal for Contingency Procedures to Follow in the Case of Emergencies Involving People with Alzheimer’s Disease. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 3398. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103398

AMA Style

Tortajada-Soler M, Sánchez-Valdeón L, Blanco-Nistal M, Benítez-Andrades JA, Liébana-Presa C, Bayón-Darkistade E. Prevalence of Comorbidities in Individuals Diagnosed and Undiagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in León, Spain and a Proposal for Contingency Procedures to Follow in the Case of Emergencies Involving People with Alzheimer’s Disease. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(10):3398. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103398

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tortajada-Soler, Macrina, Leticia Sánchez-Valdeón, Marta Blanco-Nistal, José Alberto Benítez-Andrades, Cristina Liébana-Presa, and Enrique Bayón-Darkistade. 2020. "Prevalence of Comorbidities in Individuals Diagnosed and Undiagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in León, Spain and a Proposal for Contingency Procedures to Follow in the Case of Emergencies Involving People with Alzheimer’s Disease" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 10: 3398. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103398

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Printed Edition

Prevalence of Comorbidities in Individuals Diagnosed and Undiagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in León, Spain and a Proposal for Contingency Procedures to Follow in the Case of Emergencies Involving People with Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI