Cognitive Screening in Older Adults: How they Perceive the Benefits, What they Fear Most
Among people with a family history of dementia, less than half (47%) report having ever been screened for the condition; less than one-quarter (22%) of this group report having been screened for dementia in the past year. The findings, from the most recent University of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging (NPHA), are reason for concern, given that more than 6 million Americans have Alzheimer disease but have not yet been diagnosed, according to the NPHA.
The slides that follow highlight results of the poll taken in March 2023 of a national sample of US adults aged 65 to 80 years about their awareness of cognitive screening, including what they fear most about a positive result.
Among adults aged 65 to 80 years 71% said they are familiar with cognitive screening for dementia.
Less than half of adults aged 70 to 80 years say they have ever been screened for cognitive decline.
Hispanic older adults were less likely to report cognitive screening than either non-Hispanic White and Black adults.
Nearly all older adults agreed that cognitive screening can be useful to inform medical care and advance planning.
Privacy, accuracy, and reliability were concerns endorsed by approximately one-quarter of older adults regarding cognitive screening.
Among adults aged 65 to 80 years, income below $60k and residing alone were 2 factors linked to concerns about usefulness of cognitive screening.
The majority of adults aged 65 to 80 years agreed that if cognitive screening revealed issues related to memory/thinking, they would actively work to improve brain health.
A positive screening for cognitive decline would cause approximately two-thirds of older adults to assume they would develop Alzheimer disease or another brain disorder.
A positive screening for memory deficits would cause signficant distress for many older adults including concern about how others would perceive them.
Concern about positive findings of cognitive screening caused more concern among women than men aged 65 to 80 years.
Source: Detecting Alzheimer's disease: older adults experiences with cognitive screening and blood biomarker testing. University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. July/August 2023. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.healthyagingpoll.org/reports-more/report/detecting-alzheimers-disease-older-adults-experiences-cognitive-screening-blood
