The U.S. should consider impaired financial decision-making an early sign of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, Eric Chess, MD, director of the Financial Security and Cognitive Health Initiative at the University of Denver's Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging, argued in an opinion piece published Dec. 5 by STAT.
Dr. Chess and his colleagues established the Financial Security and Cognitive Health Initiative to study the relationship between money management and forms of dementia. The cross-disciplinary research team is working to develop a screening test to detect early cognitive impairment and improve both mental and financial health.
Impaired financial decision-making can happen decades before traditional symptoms of dementia, like memory loss, appear, Dr. Chess wrote. The impairment isn't just vulnerability to financial exploitation or poor investments — it can be seen in everyday decisions such as managing credit cards, computing tips and unnecessary spending. Financial professionals see early signs of cognitive impairment in clients long before medical providers do, according to Dr. Chess.
Even a common financial decision is a complex cognitive task, activating multiple regions of the brain and making smaller impairments more obvious in early stages.
Despite almost 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer's, there aren't many strategies used to identify early signs of dementia. Easy and accessible testing — like a phone app or a quick test by a financial planner or healthcare provider — could be used to encourage protection and prevention, Dr. Chess wrote.
"I foresee a future where individuals can be screened for early signs of impairment at a point in their lives well before any noticeable symptoms are apparent," Dr. Chess concluded.