Widespread stigma related to Alzheimer's disease (AD) may act as a barrier against individuals' seeking early risk-assessment, treatment, or participating in research relating to the condition, a survey study confirmed.
The researchers asked 317 randomly selected U.S. adults in the general population to review a fictional case vignette of a man with mild AD dementia and complete a survey. In adjusted analyses, 55.3% of respondents said they would expect the patient with mild-stage AD to be discriminated against by employers and excluded from medical decision-making, reported Shana D. Stites, PsyD, MA, MS, of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues.
Just under half of respondents expected the patient's health insurance to be limited due to either data in his medical record (46.6%), brain imaging results (45.6%) or genetic testing (44.7%), according to the study in Alzheimer's & Dementia.
"We found that concerns about discrimination and overly harsh judgments about the severity of symptoms were most prevalent," Stites said in a statement from the Alzheimer's Association.
When informed the condition of the person would worsen over time, negative perceptions jumped substantially, with 78.4% of respondents anticipating on-the-job discrimination and nearly 75% assuming the person would be excluded from medical decision-making. Furthermore, when taking into account this worsening prognosis, most respondents expected the patient's health insurance to be limited due to medical record data (65.7%) or brain imaging results (62.7%).