Money problems ’signal dementia’
September 23rd, 2009
Author: admin
Declining financial skills are detectable in patients in the year before they develop Alzheimer’s, according to US researchers.
The researchers say this could be a useful indicator for doctors supporting people with memory problems.
Previous studies have shown that problems with daily activities often precede the onset of Alzheimer’s.
But charities said most people having trouble working out figures should not be alarmed by the study.
Financial skills
The research from the University of Alabama in Birmingham is published in the journal, Neurology.
The researchers studied 87 people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 25 of whom developed Alzheimer-type dementia during the study period, and 62 who did not.
They compared them with 76 healthy people with no memory problems.
They used a tool called the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI) to measure their skills over a period of a year.
The FCI looks at skills including understanding a bank statement, balancing a cheque book, paying bills, preparing bills and counting coins and currency. Read more…
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