There are currently over 52 million individuals over the age of 65 in the United States. Older adults are at increased risk for developing major neurocognitive disorders including Alzheimer’s Disease, Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Frontotemporal Dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that approximately 5.2 million Americans suffer from late onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which is the most common type of major neurocognitive disorder. While these diseases are characterized by cognitive decline and loss of functioning including activities of daily living, perhaps less known is that these illnesses also have a high prevalence of behavioral and psychiatric symptoms. Symptoms including depression, anxiety, apathy, agitation, delusions and hallucinations are all rather common in these illnesses. Such symptoms result in reduced quality of life and increase the risk for institutionalization. Primary care physicians and mental health professionals are often faced with having to manage these symptoms.
In this 90 minute didactic, we will review the common clinical features, assessment and management of the 4 most common major neurocognitive disorders. We will review a few common tools available to assist with cognitive evaluation and we will briefly review Probate Conservatorship and some of the differences between Probate and LPS conservatorships.