Primary Health Care: Open Access
Open Access

Cognitive Impairment

Citations are important for a journal to get impact factor. Impact factor is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to recent articles published in the journal. The impact of the journal is influenced by impact factor, the journals with high impact factor are considered more important than those with lower ones. Impact factor plays a major role for the particular journal. Journal with higher impact factor is considered to be more important than other ones. Impact factor can be calculated as average number of citation divided by recent cited articles published in 2 years. Cognitive impairment is when a person has trouble remembering, learning new things, concentrating, or making decisions that affect their everyday life. Cognitive impairment ranges from mild to severe. With mild impairment, people may begin to notice changes in cognitive functions, but still be able to do their everyday activities. Severe levels of impairment can lead to losing the ability to understand the meaning or importance of something and the ability to talk or write, resulting in the inability to live independently. The imminent growth in the number of people living with cognitive impairment will place significantly greater demands on our systems of care. There are now more than 10 million family members providing unpaid care to a person with a cognitive impairment, a memory problem or a disorder like Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia.5 In 2009 it was estimated that 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care were provided, at a value of $144 billion.5 Much more in-home or institutional care and unpaid assistance by family and friends will be needed in the future as the numbers of those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive impairment grow. The increasing economic burden and growing demand for care because of cognitive impairment pose a serious challenge to our states and nation unless steps are taken now to address these problems. • State health departments can gather more state data to understand the impact, burden, and needs of people with cognitive impairment. • States should consider developing a comprehensive action plan to respond to the needs of people with cognitive impairment, involving different agencies, as well as private and public organizations. • Comprehensive systems of support should be expanded for people with cognitive impairment, their families, and caregivers. Americans fear losing cognitive function. We are twice as fearful of losing our mental capacity as having diminished physical ability6 and 60% of adults are very or somewhat worried about memory loss.7 Persons affected by cognitive impairment, such as adults with Alzheimer’s disease, veterans with traumatic brain injuries, and the families of people living with cognitive impairment, represent a significant portion of your constituency. Taking steps to address this issue will ultimately have a positive impact on your entire community and state. Cognitive impairment is costly. People with cognitive impairment report more than three times as many hospital stays as individuals who are hospitalized for some other condition.3 Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias alone are estimated to be the third most expensive disease to treat in the United States. The average Medicaid nursing facility expenditure per state in 2010 for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease is estimated at $647 million,4 not including home- and community-based care or prescription drug costs.