5 ways doctors check your clients for dementia

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) recently promoted earlier detection of dementia by publishing a short cognitive assessment guide aimed at primary care physicians.

The guide is an important enough document to get a plug on the federal Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research website.

For long-term care (LTC) planners, and for other financial services professionals who work with clients over the age of 40, looking at the guide could serve several purposes.

The guide might give you ideas about how to identify clients in need of extra attention.

See also: In California, all annuity producers are crooks

The guide might also give you ideas about the notes primary care physicians are putting in your clients’ and prospects’ medical records, and what the underwriters reviewing applications for long-term care insurance (LTCI) and other health-related products are expecting to see.

For a rundown of five brain health assessment tips from the guide, read on. 

1. Patients may be right to be worried.

NIA experts recommend providing cognitive impairment screening whenever people express concerns about changes in their memory or thinking; when family members express concerns; or when the primary care providers themselves notice changes in a patient’s memory, or thinking.

See also: Study: Alzheimer’s test detects disease decade ahead of onset 

2. Doctors should think about matters that might not seem to be directly related to cognitive impairment.

The NIA experts recommend that primary care doctors think about impairment if a patient is age 80 or older, or if the patient has had trouble with managing money or medications.

But the NIA is telling doctors that other risk factors possibly indicating a need for dementia screening include having a low education level, a history of stroke or depression, or a history of type 2 diabetes.

See also: Study ties higher blood sugar to dementia risk