Forgetfulness or dementia? Who is worried and why?

Abstract

Elderly people's worries about their memory are mainly caused by a lack of clear and structured information. We developed an information brochure about normal forgetfulness and dementia to inform the Dutch general public. The characteristics of 500 elderly people who ordered this brochure are described here. Almost 70% were, to some extent, worried about incipient dementia. This worry was caused mainly by the problems people experienced from their forgetfulness in daily life and the occurrence of dementia in a close relative. The results show the importance of paying more attention to health education activities and health care policy in this field. This might increase people's quality of life and also contribute to a considerable saving for the health care system.