Trouble Managing Finances May Hint At Future Dementia Diagnosis

Dementia is a tragic disease and growing public health concern, with officials warning that a solid treatment option is necessary to mitigate the large anticipated uptick in cases over coming years. Early detection is a key part of any future treatment that will prevent or reverse the disease, and we've seen a number of promising tests that may reveal the underlying illness before clinical symptoms appear.

Unlike those tests, which would require an evaluation by a doctor or specialist, behavioral and cognitive changes linked to the accumulation of plaques associated with Alzheimer's and dementia may serve as simple warning signs about a budding problem. Research out of Duke University Medical Center points toward personal finance management struggles as one possible early warning indicator.

Aging naturally has a negative impact on cognitive performance for many people, and these changes may result in struggles related to tasks that were previously simple, including managing finances. Struggles related to simple budgeting and counting change in older adults may hint at a future dementia diagnosis in some people, however.

The study's senior author P. Murali Doraiswamy, MBBS, explained, "There has been a misperception that financial difficulty may occur only in the late stages of dementia, but this can happen early and the changes can be subtle."

The finance management changes were positively correlated with increased build-up of plaque that may contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The study looked at 243 adults ages 55 to 90 and involved brain scans that showed plaque build-up.

During the course of their study, the researchers found that participants with larger beta-amyloid plaque deposits had a harder time understanding and utilizing simple financial tasks and concepts, including things like determining an account balance. Monitoring for these struggles may aid family members and health care providers in detecting dementia before larger issues appear.