Discipline: Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: Social Sciences/Psychology/Economics
Session: 3
Thaddeus James Holiday - Claflin University
Dementia is described as a broad spectrum of symptoms that include memory loss, word-finding difficulties, impaired judgment, and the gradual inability to complete daily tasks caused by cell damage and/or death of neurons present in the brain. Dementia symptoms typically become more severe over times, but some cases progress more rapidly. Therefore, certain procedures may have been received to treat and assess a patient’s condition. It was predicted that the percentage of the top five procedures received by older South Carolinians would vary based upon both race and sex. It was assumed that persons who were either female or white would have the highest percentage of the top five procedures in the state of South Carolina. With the use of secondary data from the South Carolina Electronic Health Records (SC-EHR) database, ‘R’ programming software was utilized to calculate descriptive statistics for dementia patients including the percentage of procedure types by race and sex. There was a higher percentage of White South Carolinians that received the top five procedures with the exception of receiving puncture of vein, transfusion of packed cells, and enteral infusion of concentrated nutritional substances. Black South Carolinians had a higher percentage of receiving puncture of vein, transfusion of packed cells, and enteral infusion of concentrated nutritional substances when compared to Whites. In addition, there was a higher percentage of female South Carolinians that received the top five procedures with the exception of receiving a magnetic resonance imaging of brain and brain stem and an ultrasound of the heart. Male South Carolinians had a higher percentage of receiving a magnetic resonance imaging of brain and brain stem and an ultrasound of the heart when compared to females. There could various factors that could have had an influence the different percentages between races and sex. Black South Carolinians having a higher percentage of receiving the following procedures: puncture of vein, transfusion of packed cells, and enteral infusion of concentrated nutritional substances when compared to whites could be related to conditions such as sickle cell anemia and heart disease which is more prevalent within the African American community. Heart disease and related conditions are more prominent in males as well.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): NIA ; NIH
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Neset Hikmet, tholiday@claflin.edu
Role: I conducted secondary data analysis to access the top five procedures of dementia patients in the state of South Carolina.