Neurological disorders are the number one disease and disability affecting the world population. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke dethroned cardiovascular disease for the first time. It is an alarm signal that specialists from all over the world are sounding and that should also give us, Romanians, something to think about. And that's because, in Romania, the situation of patients suffering from such ailments is quite dramatic.
The patient, in a certain phase of the disease, no longer lives in the present
11 million patients who have lost their fight for life and more than 3 billion other people who suffer from some of the most terrible diseases: neurological conditions. And that's not all: within 30 years, the number of deaths has increased by almost 60% worldwide.
These are just some of the figures from a recently released study that heralds a first: Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, strokes, migraines and diabetic neuropathy are the leading causes of disability and illness worldwide, ahead of cardiovascular disease. Neonatal encephalopathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications from premature birth, autism spectrum disorders and brain cancer are also among the most common conditions. But diabetic neuropathy is the fastest growing condition of all known neurological conditions. According to official data, the number of patients reached 206 million in 2021, triple the levels recorded in 1990.These figures are consistent with the continued increase in the prevalence of diabetes”said Liane Ong, researcher at the University of Washington and lead author of the paper.
The analysis also provides prevention solutions. Among them, controlling blood pressure and avoiding lead exposure, measures that would reduce intellectual disability by 63% and dementia by 15% respectively. “The point is that many of these diseases currently have no effective treatments, and in any case, health systems struggle to provide care to the sick even in high-income countries“, said Katrin Seeher, researcher at the WHO Department of Mental Health and co-author of the paper.
“A strategy that has great potential to reduce the burden of neurological diseases is to act on our lifestyle, eating habits and exposure to pollution,” the specialist said.
More care centers
We are talking about conditions that are difficult to treat even in Western countries, where the population has a much higher standard of living than here. Therefore, in Romania, the sick have even less chance of proper treatment and appropriate care. Even the patients say it. “If money is not invested in research, we will not be saved”, Adriana Totan, the president of the association “Stronger than Parkinson's disease”, stated for “Adevărul”. “Then we need empathy, understanding, respect, help, money. Medicines are very expensive, food for a Parkinson's patient is special and expensive. We need caregivers, physiotherapists, neurologists. We do not have access to care centers, and then we are forced to turn to private centers. Which costs a lot though. And a Parkinson's patient, most of the time, has nowhere to get that much money. Especially if he has a small pension“, Adriana Totan told us. “We cannot afford private clinics, we are at the hands of the state, which does nothing to help us. Or does too little.”
Parkinson's patients need medical centers that operate permanently and that provide them with a multidisciplinary team of doctors, as well as the necessary medical devices “so that we don't become robots. We can no longer speak, we can no longer swallow, we will become vegetables that will make life difficult for innocent families. The state does not grant us anything. There are not even social workers to come to the sick person's home. No one knows what Parkinson's disease means“.
As for the necessary drugs, they receive 100% compensation for only three of the many they need. “The rule of three drugs given for a diagnosis is observed. Therefore, if I need five drugs, the state only gives me three. I buy the rest with my own money. Or, we should be seen as people who are in dire need of help. For we degrade ourselves every day.”
We need a National Dementia Plan
Another relentless disease is Alzheimer's, but fortunately, in the case of this condition, the drugs are cheaper and compensated, Dr. Maria Moglan, vice-president of the Romanian Alzheimer Society, stated for “Adevărul”. “However, the state should provide more care centers for these patients. They exist, but they are too few. Because there is no money.”
Then, the Romanian state should approve the “National Dementia Plan”, which the Romanian Alzheimer Society developed in 2014 and which it then sent to the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health, continues Dr. Maria Moglan. “There should be an inter-ministerial commission to discuss patient needs, diagnosis, treatment, post-treatment, care centers. For, after the diagnosis and the prescription of a treatment, what happens to these people? What about the relatives who also need help, counseling, social assistance? They are the most affected, suffer the most, their health, their psyche sometimes deteriorates more than the patient himself. Who takes care of these people? The patient, in a certain phase of the disease, no longer lives in the present. But this present is terrible for the family“, said Dr. Maria Moglan.
The vice-president of the Romanian Alzheimer Society raised the same problem, the lack of care centers. “It is very difficult for the family or a loved one to care for an Alzheimer's patient, especially in the terminal phase of the disease. Support from the authorities is needed“. And the psychiatrist Cătălina Tudose recently declared that, indeed, in Romania there should be a strategy, a national plan for the treatment of patients with dementia. “Alzheimer's is part of a broader mental health strategy that doesn't exist“. The prevalence of dementia increases with age. It is now estimated that one in eight people over the age of 65 have dementia, as do nearly half of those over 85.
