New research shows that not all Alzheimer’s sufferers are aware of their disease. For some it is because they have never been diagnosed, for others it is probably because they deny their symptoms.
900,000 people have Alzheimer’s disease in France. Each year, the number of new cases diagnosed is estimated at 225,000. 50% of patients remain undiagnosed. According to a new American study, the lack of diagnosis could be related to the level of the patient’s entourage. Conversely, some patients, after diagnosis, continue to ignore the disease.
Addiction, education and dementia
585 people aged 65 or over participated in this study. Data on their level of education, their ability to do certain things (laundry, shopping, cooking, etc.) and their level of income were collected. 60% of patients are either not diagnosed (39.5%) or not aware of their disease. People who did not go to high school, went to the doctor on their own, and were able to cope with daily activities were more likely to go undiagnosed.
Those who had been recognized as ill but who were not aware of it were also often alone during medical appointments, and they were generally less educated. Halima Amjad, one of the authors of this study, deciphers this phenomenon: “if the dementia is not severe and people are able to perform daily tasks on their own, the symptoms of cognitive loss are generally more masked, especially for patients who go to the doctor on their own “. It is the entourage who can sometimes testify to health professionals about the difficulties encountered by the sick person.
Levels of consciousness that vary
Doctor Thomas-Antérion, interviewed by France Alzheimer, explains that awareness of the disease is variable: “You have people who, at a very severe stage of the disease, are going to remember very well that they have Alzheimer’s disease. They will sometimes say” it is my head is normal “. (…) Then you have patients, at the very beginning of their illness, who deny completely, who do not hear the diagnosis and who say” I am not sick “.
The fact of not being aware of your disease has a name: anosognosia. The patient thinks that he has no particular difficulties, he is not aware of things that can be dangerous for him and does not understand why his relatives pay him so much attention. In 2015, the France Alzheimer association carried out a investigation to collect testimonies from patients. They found that 80% of those questioned are aware that their illness prevents them from performing certain daily tasks. Today, taking into account the number of patients and their relatives, Alzheimer’s disease concerns 3 million people in metropolitan France and in the French overseas departments and territories.
Source: France Alzheimer
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