Summary
The British Psychological Society (BPS) recently drew attention to the ongoing debate concerning dementia case-finding schemes and policies.
“The drive in the UK and US towards early diagnosis of dementia is not backed by evidence of benefit, says a study published in the [BMJ]”.
Read more: The pros and cons of dementia screening. BPS.
This relates to:
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Reference
Le Couteur, DG. Doust, J. [and] Creasey, H. [et al] (2013). Political drive to screen for pre-dementia: not evidence based and ignores the harms of diagnosis. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), September 9th 2013, 347, f5125. (Click here to view the PubMed record).
On the Other Hand…
Timely dementia diagnosis has gained support among nurses. Whilst in agreement that arousing anxiety unnecessarily should be avoided, the mainstream of orthodox thought asserts that improving early diagnosis rates will open avenues for all-important support.
Full Text Link (Note: This article requires a suitable Athens password, a journal subscription or payment for access).
Reference
Trueland, J. (2013). Is early diagnosis best? Nursing Standard. November 6th 2013; 28(10): 20-2.