Shots – Health News – In the United States, it’s estimated that about 7 million people are living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
But the number of people with a formal diagnosis is far less than that. Now, a new study suggests the likelihood of getting a formal diagnosis may depend on where a person lives.
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College found that diagnosis rates vastly differ across the country and those different rates could not simply be explained by dementia risk factors, like if an area has more cases of hypertension, obesity and diabetes.
The reasons behind the disparity aren’t clear, but researchers speculate that stigma as well as access to primary care or behavioral neurological specialists may impact the odds of getting a formal diagnosis.
“We tell anecdotes about how hard it is to get a diagnosis and maybe it is harder in some places. It’s not just your imagination. It actually is different from place to place,” said Julie Bynum, the study’s lead author and a geriatrician at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Those differences may have potential consequences.
That’s because a formal diagnosis of Alzheimer’s opens up access to treatments that may slow down the brain changes associated with the disease.
Without that formal diagnosis, patients also would not be eligible for clinical trials or insurance coverage for certain medications.
Even in cases of dementia where treatment is not an option, a diagnosis can also help in the planning for a patient’s care.
The findings, published last week in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, emerged from two main questions: What percent of older adults are being diagnosed with dementia across communities in the U.S.? And is the percent we see different from what we would expect?
