Alzheimer’s takes financial toll before being diagnosed, study says

(CNN) – A new report shows people who develop dementia often fall behind on their bills before they are diagnosed with the disease.

A team of economists and medical experts in the United States examined Medicare records with information from the credit bureau, Equifax.

They studied how people’s borrowing behavior changed in the years before and after they were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or a similar disease.

Researchers found a year before people were diagnosed, more than 17% were likely to be late on their mortgage payments than before the onset of the disease, and people were 34% more likely to not pay their credit bills on time.

The study found evidence of people falling behind on their payments as much as five years before doctors diagnosed them with Alzheimer’s.

A Georgetown University economist who was one of the study’s authors called the research striking.

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