DALLAS: A Johns Hopkins study on data from more than 7,000 older Americans has found that those who show signs of probable dementia but are not yet formally diagnosed are nearly twice as likely as those with such a diagnosis to engage in potentially unsafe activities, such as driving, cooking, and managing finances and medications.
The findings highlight the need, investigators say, to make patients and their families explicitly aware of the memory disorder so that physicians and loved ones can take protective steps.
“When patients receive a formal dementia diagnosis, their families are typically aware that, at some point, their loved ones will not be able to drive or will need more help with their medicine,” says study leader Halima Amjad, M.D., M.P.H…