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Medical help-seeking intentions among patients with early Alzheimer's disease

Abstract: Background: Limited information is available on the active process of seeking medical help in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) at early stages. The aim of this study was to assess the phenomenon of medical help-seeking in early AD and to identify associated factors. Methods: A multicenter, non-interventional study was conducted including patients of 50-90 years of age with prodromal or mild AD (National Institute on Aging/Alzheimer's Association criteria), a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score???22, and a Clinical Dementia Rating-Global score (CDR-GS) of 0.5-1.0. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results: A total of 149 patients were included. Mean age (SD) was 72.3 (7.0) years, 50.3% were female, and 87.2% had a CDR-GS score of 0.5. Mean disease duration was 1.4 (1.8) years. Ninety-four (63.1%) patients sought medical help, mostly from neurologists. Patients with help-seeking intentions were mostly female (60.6%) with a CDR-GS score of 0.5 (91.5%) and had a greater awareness of diagnosis, poorer quality of life, more depressive symptoms, and a more severe perception of their condition than their counterparts. Lack of help-seeking intentions was associated with male sex (p?=?0.003), fewer years of education (p=?0.005), a low awareness of diagnosis (p=?0.005), and a low emotional consequence of the condition (p=?0.016). Conclusion: Understanding the phenomenon of active medical help-seeking may facilitate the design of specific strategies to improve the detection of cognitive impairment, especially in patients with a lower level of educational attainment and poor awareness of their condition.

 Fuente: Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2023, 14, 1290002

 Editorial: Frontiers Media

 Año de publicación: 2023

 Nº de páginas: 6

 Tipo de publicación: Artículo de Revista

 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1290002

 ISSN: 1664-0640

Autoría

VILLAREJO-GALENDE, ALBERTO

GARCÍA-ARCELAY, ELENA

PIÑOL-RIPOLL, GERARD

OLMO-RODRÍGUEZ, ANTONIO DEL

VIÑUELA, FÉLIX

BOADA, MERCÈ

FRANCO-MACÍAS, EMILIO

IBÁÑEZ DE LA PEÑA, ALMUDENA

RIVEROL, MARIO

PUIG-PIJOAN, ALBERT

ABIZANDA-SOLER, PEDRO

ARROYO, RAFAEL

BAQUERO-TOLEDO, MIQUEL

FERIA-VILAR, INMACULADA

BALASA, MIRCEA

BERBEL, ÁNGEL

VIEIRA-CAMPOS, ALBA

GARCÍA-RIBAS, GUILERMO

RODRIGO-HERRERO, SILVIA