Dementia screening - is it time?

The article, Dementia screening in primary care: Is it time? was interesting to me. We are hearing more and more about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and the social, emotional, physical, and financial toll that the disease takes.

Some people feel that screening for dementia would catch a significant number of people who could slip through the cracks. However, currently there are no methods for across-the-board screening. In this article, it is argued that such screening could, in fact, have detrimental effects. It says, “Harms include possible stigma, loss of long term care insurance, emotional dislocation for both the individual and family, and resources’ shifting from other health problems.”

It’s a tough one. It’s a sad and frustrating situation when an elderly person does slip through the cracks when dementia develops and doesn’t receive the care he or she needs. There has to be a way to identify the people at risk without causing a whole new problem, as could be with overall screening.

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