Researchers found diagnosis rates varied depending on location — with parts of the Great Plains and Southwest seeing fewer dementia cases than predicted.
Medical instruments are pictured at the Actors Fund's Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic on March 23, 2011, in New York City. Researchers found that the odds of getting a formal dementia diagnosis in the U.S. differed based on location.In the United States, it's estimated that about 7 million people are living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. But the number of people with a formal diagnosis is far less than that.
Those differences may have potential consequences. That's because a formal diagnosis of Alzheimer's opens up access to treatments that may slow down the brain changes associated with the disease. Without that formal diagnosis, patients also would not be eligible for clinical trials or insurance coverage for certain medications. Even in cases of dementia where treatment is not an option, a diagnosis can also help in the planning for a patient's care.
It's difficult to say for certain if an area is under-diagnosing, because researchers compared each HRR to the national diagnosis average instead of the actual number of cases in each community, she added.
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