Survey: Caregivers Delay in Seeing a Doctor About Signs of Alzheimer's

A Harris Survey of 500 caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease found that long delays occur between the first signs of the disease and the time when they finally seek medical advice.

Many caregivers just don't believe the early symptoms they see in their loved ones to be a warning of the possibility of Alzheimer's.

Because the early signs of Alzheimer's are often unrecognized or are chalked up to only being signs of normal aging, many months or years can go by before the patient is evaluated by a physician.

On average, caregivers surveyed reported that more than a year went by between the appearance of the first signs of dementia and the time they consulted a physician.

A total of 57 percent of the caregivers who let at least six months go by from the first symptoms of Alzheimer's to when a physician was consulted said they thought the symptoms were the normal signs of aging. Thirty-one percent of the caregivers did not consult a physician because they were in denial.

Many of the caregivers surveyed said they would have sought medical advice sooner if they had known that medication was available that slows the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The three most common symptoms reported as the first to appear are forgetting things more often, being confused about what day it is or how to get home, and having difficulty completing difficult tasks. Spouses were significantly more likely than other caregivers to notice early symptoms, according to the survey.

Other sources: Harris Interactive