Poor seniors are likely to have their thinking declines overlooked by doctors Three out of four seniors treated at community health centers had undiagnosed cognitive problems Black patients were twice as likely as whites to have undiagnosed problems THURSDAY, Nov. 14, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Dementia strikes all races, but new research suggests thinking declines in poor seniors are often overlooked. Among a group of more than 200 low-income patients who were treated at community health centers, 3 of 4 had undiagnosed cognitive issues, researchers reported recently in the journal JAMA Network Open .
Of those, 62% had mild cognitive impairment, which is a precursor to dementia, while 12% had full-blown undiagnosed dementia, results showed. Only 25% of the patients evaluated had no evidence of any cognitive decline, researchers found. “Unrecognized cognitive impairment and dementia present a serious challenge in the U.
S. and worldwide, affecting patients, families and the health care system,” said lead researcher Dr. Ambar Kulshreshtha , an associate professor of family and preventive medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
“Delayed diagnosis often means patients are identified at later stages, when symptoms are more severe and care is more complex,” Kulshreshtha added in an Emory news release. “It also leads to missed opportunities for early treatment that could slow disease progression.” For the study, researchers looked at seniors treated at f.
