Dementia patients had problems with finances up to 6 years before diagnosis, study says
.jpg "A new study on Medicare holders and federal credit reports found that older adults who go on to develop dementia are more likely to miss payments on routine bills up to six years before they are diagnosed with the condition.")
A new study on Medicare holders and federal credit reports found that older adults who go on to develop dementia are more likely to miss payments on routine bills up to six years before they are diagnosed with the condition.
The missed payments of the roughly 80,000 adults included in the study also increased their chances of developing a low or fair credit score about 2.5 years before their diagnosis, according to the research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
The findings suggest that financial status and decisions — or lack thereof — could serve as early predictors of dementia, for which there is no effective treatment or cure.
A study including these findings was published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
“Earlier screening and detection, combined with information about the risk of irreversible financial events, like foreclosure and repossession, are important to protect the financial well-being of the patient and their families,” study lead author Dr. Lauren Nicholas, an associate professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins, said in a news release.
However, there’s no need to schedule a doctor’s appointment if an older person you know misses a payment — such mistakes could be the product of a busy life, not an impairment, Heather Snyder, vice president of medical and scientific operations at the Alzheimer’s Association, told The Washington Post.
“This new research suggests an association between early Alzheimer’s-related brain changes and poor financial decision making,” Snyder told the Post. “It does not prove cause... but it’s definitely giving us another tool to suggest something might be wrong.”
“If I saw evidence of multiple things going wrong or combined with any other changes in personality, changes in interest or memory, conversational ability, then I would absolutely recommend going to the doctor,” Snyder added.
The researchers, with help from the University of Michigan Medical School, analyzed insurance claims and credit report data on 81,364 Medicare beneficiaries living in single-person homes.
About 54,000 adults were never diagnosed with dementia between 1999 and 2014, while about 27,000 were diagnosed during that same period, according to the study. The researchers compared the financial outcomes of these two groups for several years before and after those with dementia received their diagnosis.
The team defined a person with “deteriorating financial capabilities” as one who had bill payments at least 30 days past due for two or more consecutive months and those with a credit score below 620.
They found that adults with dementia experienced issues with payments as early as six years before diagnosis, while risks of developing a low credit score also persisted for up to 3.5 years after diagnosis, “suggesting an ongoing need for assistance managing money,” the researchers said in the release.
A link between educational status and poor financial outcomes was also discovered.
Medicare holders with dementia with a higher educational status started slipping on payments 2.5 years prior to learning of their condition, while those with a lower educational status missed payments as early as seven years before a diagnosis.
The study compared missed payments and credit scores to other medical conditions such as arthritis, glaucoma, heart attacks and hip fractures, but no associations were found.
“We don’t see the same pattern with other health conditions,” Nicholas said in the release. “Dementia was the only medical condition where we saw consistent financial symptoms, especially the long period of deteriorating outcomes before clinical recognition. Our study is the first to provide large-scale quantitative evidence of the medical adage that the first place to look for dementia is in the checkbook.”
Affecting about 5.7 million people in the U.S., dementia is caused by abnormal changes in the brain that lead to cognitive decline. It’s an umbrella term for several medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and its prevalence is expected to grow among older adults.
A study published in August found that dementia may be the underlying cause of nearly three times more deaths in the country than official records show, with underreporting occurring more for men than women and for those without a high school education, McClatchy News reported.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Dementia patients had problems with finances up to 6 years before diagnosis, study says."
