The evolving role of genomics in shaping care for persons with dementia.
Alzheimer's disease and other chronic dementing conditions remain formidable challenges for individuals, their families, and health care providers. In addition to the challenges inherent in the sheer numbers affected, the complex and relatively unpredictable progression of these disorders complicates the delivery of interventions for health care providers. Identifying genetic and environmental etiologic factors and understanding their relationship to the natural history of dementia brings health care providers closer to more effective pharmacologic treatments and perhaps cure. In the meantime, genomics research brings professional nurses closer to providing more specific, perhaps individualized, anticipatory guidance and to providing nonpharmacologic interventions in a genotype-directed way to patients with chronic dementing conditions. The emergence of a genomics-based health care environment presents an opportunity and a challenge for gerontological nurse clinicians, educators, and researchers--an opportunity to evolve practice toward a higher level of specificity and effectiveness and a challenge to do so in a equitable and sensitive manner that improves health and quality of life for all served.
The University of Iowa College of Nursing, Room 484 NB, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. debra-schutte@uiowa.edu
Debra L
DL
Schutte
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003704:Dementia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000451:nursing*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D005820:Genetic Testing; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D010344:Patient Advocacy