The impact of disaster on cognition in geriatric population

Abstract

Aging has become one of the predominant demographic issues of the 21st century both in Türkiye and globally. All countries face major challenges to ensure that the health and social systems are ready for the present development. Disasters are natural, technological, or human-induced events that cause physical, economic and social losses. Türkiye is one of the countries frequently face to the catastrophic natural disasters. During the disasters, geriatric population should be considered as being a particular vulnerable group of society. Geriatric individuals are usually more severely injured, have prolonged hospital stay, lower quality of life and have higher mortality during disaster and in post-disaster periods. However, studies on the cognitive effects of disasters are limited. It is clear that the data to be obtained from studies to be conducted in this field will be of even greater importance, if the increasing geriatric population is considered. Age, living alone, being less educated, having chronic diseases, and not working are known as being the the most related factors with cognitive decline due to the disasters. Stressful events such as disasters have short and long-term effects on different brain structures. In the literature, it can clearly be seen that the popular area for researches is the affected locations in brain due to disasters The impotance of better preparedness and community empowerenment that can improve the vulnerable populations, particularly the geriatric people with dementia, is known and more researches are needed.