Article Says People With Dementia Not Receiving Needed Meds

If you are a caregiver for someone with dementia there is an article at Science Daily titled "Community Model for Caregiving for Dementia Patients" that has some important information. In the article Dr. Boustani, a geriatrics specialist, explains that "60% of people with dementia or pre-dementia (also known as mild-cognitive impairment), are not recognized as having these conditions when they go to a hospital, and 80% are not recognized as having dementia or predementia by their primary by their primary care physicians."

The article says that less than 10% of people with dementia or predementia are receiving the medications that they need.

I think this is important for caregivers to know about because they can help by alerting the primary physician to check for dementia or predementia. Medications are available for these conditions.

At the website for aging-parents-and-elder-care.com there is a list of symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer's. Family caregivers and paid caregivers can read about symptoms and discuss them with a doctor if they are concerned about a loved one.

On October 20 there will be a summit meeting in Indianapolis for "Recognizing and Assessing the Progression of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Primary Care." The summit meeting will have the goal of developing a model for dementia care.