Bragança an aging district and neurodegenerative diseases Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • The territory is considered low density due to criteria related to demographic, economic, urban, institutional and relational aspects [2]. The total number of elderly people in the district is 124121 [4]. A marked loss of population and a continuous and marked aging has occurred in this district. To compare the aging index in Bragança district with the national one and identify the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases in the district. Descriptive statistics were used to synthesize the demographic data collected from INE [3] and the epidemiological ones of neurodegenerative diseases active diagnoses provided by the Northeast Local Health Unit [5].
  • The territory is considered low density due to criteria related to demographic, economic, urban, institutional and relational aspects [2]. The total number of elderly people in the district is 124121 [4]. A marked loss of population and a continuous and marked aging has occurred in this district. Objectives: To compare the aging index in Bragança district with the national one and identify the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases in the district. Methods: Descriptive statistics were used to synthesize the demographic data collected from INE [3] and the epidemiological ones of neurodegenerative diseases active diagnoses provided by the Northeast Local Health Unit [5]. Results: Bragança's district aging index is very high in Bragança (221) and alarmingly very high in less populated municipalities such as Vinhais (615,4) and Torre de Moncorvo (476,5) [4]. To what neurodegenerative diseases active diagnoses concern, it was possible to verify that they have a considerable expression in the territory with 1596 cases of Dementia, 659 of Parkinson's and 78 of Multiple Sclerosis [5]. Discussion and Conclusion: Neurodegenerative diseases increase with age, as they do at the European level[1] as well as they interfere both with quality of life of the patient and the family with high social costs. In this region there is also the difficulty in accessing health care and social support for families, as they are few or nonexistent.

publication date

  • January 1, 2021