SLAAA Staff Members Co-Author Article on Dementia
Marie Meisel, RN, and James Williams, staff members
of the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging (SLAAA) were among collaborators
on an article that appeared in the November 2007 edition of the
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The article titled
“Dementia Undiagnosed in Poor Older Adults with Functional Impairment”
attempted to identify variables associated with diagnosing dementia
in poor elders by comparing older people with dementia who were
diagnosed by their primary care physicians (PCP) with those not
diagnosed by their PCP.
Four-hundred-eleven adults with cognitive impairment
aged 55 and older participated in the study conducted here in
St. Louis. Of the 411 study participants, only 44% had previously
been diagnosed with dementia by their PCP. By contrast, the research
team diagnosed 73% of the participants with Alzheimer’s disease.
Study participants who were not diagnosed by their PCP were more
likely to be older, more likely to be female, more likely to live
alone, and less likely to have a spousal caregiver. The authors
reasoned that limited access to primary care services may contribute
to high rates of undiagnosed dementia among poor adults.
