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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Patterns of care in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease
— impediments to timely diagnosis | | Author(s) | David Knopman, Jane A Donohue, Elane M Gutterman |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 48, no 3, March 2000 |
| Pages | pp 300-304 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Family care ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Factors associated with delay in diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were determined by a postal questionnaire to 1480 US caregivers of patients diagnosed with AD. Two measures of delay were examined through caregivers' reports: duration in years for first AD signs until determination of a definite problem; and duration from problem recognition to first physical consultation. The mean lag in years from observation of first symptoms to problem recognition for those diagnosed in the past 12 months, the past 13-48 months, and the past 49 months or more was, respectively, 1.20, 1.56, and 2.25. The timing of diagnosis also influenced lag from problem recognition to first consultation, so that sub-groups with recent, less recent, and most distant diagnoses reported delays in years of .82, .84, and 1.31. Correct diagnosis of AD was reported by caregivers in only 38% of cases at initial physician consultation. Results suggest that both caregivers and physicians lack ready understanding of the difference between memory processes in ageing and AD. More public and professional education is needed to convey the basics of AD diagnosis. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-000824205 A |
| Classmark | EA: LK7: P6:SJ: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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