Emily Chan
In the United States, the specific area you live in can have a huge impact on when you receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or other related dementias, according to a new study from the University of Michigan.
The finding suggests that local healthcare systems may play a bigger role in diagnosis than previously believed.
An official diagnosis of Alzheimer’s allows patients to receive the proper treatment and support services.
Receiving an early diagnosis is even better. But, if the rates of diagnosis vary based on geography, it raises questions about healthcare across the nation.
“These findings go beyond demographic and population-level differences in risk and indicate that there are health system-level differences that could be targeted and remediated,” Dr. Julie Bynum, the leader of the study and a geriatrician and healthcare researcher at the university, said.
According to Dr. Bynum, the wide variation of dementia diagnoses may happen due to a range of factors, including practice norms for healthcare providers and the knowledge of individual patients.
In the study, the Medicare claims data for 4.8 million older adults across 306 hospital referral regions in the U.S. were analyzed.
The researchers compared actual diagnosis rates in each region to expected rates based on risk factors within the population.
The results showed major geographical fluctuations in diagnosis rates. They varied from 1.7 to 5.4 per 100 older adults across regions.
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