The study suggests that missed financial payments may be an early indicator of dementia

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors found that Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with dementia are more likely to miss their bill payments as early as six years before a clinic diagnosis.

The study, which included researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School, also found that these missed payments and other negative financial outcomes lead to an increased risk of developing subprime credit scores starting 2.5 years before a dementia diagnosis. . Subprime credit scores fall in the right and lower range.

The results, published online November 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that financial symptoms such as missing payments on routine bills could be used as early predictors of dementia and highlight the benefits of early diagnosis.

“There are currently no effective treatments to delay or reverse the symptoms of dementia,” says lead author Lauren Hersch Nicholas, an associate professor in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Management at Bloomberg School. “However, early screening and detection, combined with information on the risk of irreversible financial events, such as foreclosure and repossession, are important to protect the financial well-being of the patient and their families.”

The analysis found that the high risk of payment defaults with dementia accounted for 5.2% of defaults in the six years prior to diagnosis, peaking at 17.9% nine months after diagnosis. Rates of high payment default and subprime credit risk persisted for up to 3.5 years after beneficiaries were diagnosed with dementia, suggesting a continuing need for assistance with money management.

The study also found that beneficiaries diagnosed with dementia who had a lower education status lost their bill payments starting seven years prior to a clinical diagnosis compared with 2.5 years prior to a diagnosis for beneficiaries with one. higher education status.

Dementia, identified as diagnostic codes for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in the study, is a progressive brain disorder that slowly decreases memory and cognitive abilities and limits the ability to perform basic daily activities, including managing finances personal. About 14.7 percent of American adults over the age of 70 are diagnosed with the disease. The onset of dementia can lead to costly financial errors, irregular bill payments, and increased susceptibility to financial fraud.

For their study, the researchers linked anonymous Medicare complaints and credit report data. They analyzed information on 81,364 Medicare beneficiaries living in single-person families, with 54,062 never having been diagnosed with dementia between 1999 and 2014 and 27,302 with a diagnosis of dementia during the same period. The researchers compared the financial results from 1999 to 2018 of those with and without a clinical diagnosis of dementia for up to seven years before a diagnosis and four years after a diagnosis. The researchers focused on missing payments for one or more credit accounts overdue for at least 30 days and subprime credit scores, indicative of an individual’s risk of default on loans based on credit history.

To determine whether the financial symptoms observed were unique to dementia, the researchers also compared the financial results of non-payments and subprime credit scores with other health outcomes including arthritis, glaucoma, heart attacks, and hip fractures. They found no association between an increase in missed payments or subprime credit scores prior to a diagnosis of arthritis, glaucoma, or hip fracture. No long-term associations with heart attacks were found.

“We don’t see the same pattern with other health conditions,” says Nicholas. “Dementia was the only medical condition in which we found consistent financial symptoms, particularly the long period of worsening of outcomes before clinical recognition. Our study is the first to provide large-scale quantitative evidence for the medical adage that the first place to look for dementia is in the checkbook. “