Seniors with dementia have financial ‘symptoms’ for up to six years before diagnosis

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors found that Medicare beneficiaries who are diagnosed with dementia are more likely to miss payments on bills as early as six years before a clinic. diagnostic.

The study also found that beneficiaries diagnosed with dementia and with lower education levels missed bill payments as early as seven years before a clinical diagnosis, compared to 2.5 years before a diagnosis for beneficiaries with a higher level of education. higher.

The study, which included researchers from the University of Michigan School of Medicine, also found that these missed payments and other adverse financial results lead to an increased risk of developing subprime credit scores from 2, 5 years before a diagnosis of dementia. Subprime credit ratings are in the fair and lower range.

The results, published online November 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that financial symptoms such as missing payments on routine bills could be used as early predictors of dementia and underscore the benefits of early detection.

“Currently, there is no effective treatment to delay or reverse the symptoms of dementia,” says senior author Lauren Hersch Nicholas, Ph.D., associate professor in the Bloomberg Department of Health Policy and Management. School. “However, earlier detection and detection, coupled with information about the risk of irreversible financial events, such as foreclosure and repossession, is important to protect the financial well-being of the patient and their family.”

The analysis found that the high risk of late payments related to dementia accounted for 5.2% of delinquencies in the six years before diagnosis, reaching a high of 17.9% nine months after diagnosis. High rates of late payments and subprime credit risk persisted for up to 3.5 years after beneficiaries were diagnosed with dementia, suggesting a continued need for help managing money.

Dementia, identified as diagnostic codes for Alzheimer’s disease and associated dementias in the study, is a progressive brain disorder that slowly decreases memory and cognitive skills and limits the ability to perform basic daily activities. including personal finance management. About 14.7% of American adults over 70 are diagnosed with the disease. The onset of dementia can lead to costly financial errors, irregular bill payments, and increased vulnerability to financial fraud.

For their study, the researchers linked anonymized Medicare claims and credit report data. They analyzed information on 81,364 Medicare beneficiaries living in one-person households, 54,062 never diagnosed with dementia between 1999 and 2014 and 27,302 diagnosed with dementia during the same period. . The researchers compared the financial results from 1999 to 2018 of those with and without a clinical diagnosis of dementia up to seven years before a diagnosis and four years after a diagnosis. Researchers focused on missing payments for one or more credit accounts that are at least 30 days past due and subprime credit scores, indicating an individual’s risk of default on loans based on their credit history. .

To determine if the observed financial symptoms were unique to dementia, the researchers also compared the financial results of missed payments and subprime credit scores to other health conditions, including arthritis, glaucoma, heart attacks and hip fractures. They found no association with increased missed payments or subprime credit scores before a diagnosis of arthritis, glaucoma, or hip fracture. No long-term association was found with heart attacks.

“We don’t see the same pattern with other health issues,” says Nicholas. “Dementia was the only medical condition for which we saw consistent financial symptoms, especially the long period of deterioration in results before clinical recognition. Our study is the first to provide large-scale quantitative evidence for the medical adage that the first place to look for dementia is in the checkbook. ”