Older people living in the community are likely to have undiagnosed memory loss or dementia that could be putting their health and welfare at risk, according to researchers.

People with dementia living in the community are at risk for medication errors, financial mismanagement, problems with driving, and longer hospitalizations and use of healthcare resources,'' said Dr. Shelley A. Sternberg, of the University of Chicago in Illinois. Sternberg and colleagues published their findings in the November issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The investigators analyzed data from a Canadian national survey that examined the prevalence of dementia among over 10,000 elderly living in 36 urban centers between 1991 and 1992. Isolating 364 individuals found to suffer from dementia while living in the community, the researchers further identified 252 for whom full medical records were available.

According to the report, almost 65% of the participants had never seen a physician for existing memory problems and therefore had gone undiagnosed for dementia. Sternberg and her colleagues report that those with mild impairment were twice as likely as those with severe impairment to have gone undiagnosed for dementia.

Early diagnosis is critical to getting the best care available to those who need it as quickly as possible, Sternberg said in an interview with Reuters Health.

Better physician education and screening techniques are needed to address this detection problem, she added. ``We think that the high frequency of undetected dementia as shown in this study should lead to consideration of more intensive educational programs for caregivers to detect early signs of dementia,'' she said.

As well, recommendations for dementia screening by healthcare providers should be reexamined,'' Sternberg said. ``If these people are not identified in a timely fashion, their ability to plan for future care is hindered.''

(From Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2000;48:1430-1434.)