Difficulties handling money may indicate the development of Alzheimer's disease

I like to give you warning signs to look for not only in the progression of Alzheimer's but also as a useful tool to look out for in other people that may be at risk – and here is another one.

For people with mild signs of dementia, problems with managing money may be a clue that memory problems are developing into Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study published in the journal Neurology.

The study found that tasks people have performed for their entire adult lives, such as managing a checking account, often become too complicated in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The study involved 76 people with no memory problems and 87 older people with mild problems described as mild cognitive impairment. The participants were given a money management test at the beginning of the study and again one year later. The test included counting coins, making grocery purchases, understanding and using a cheque book, understanding and using a bank statement, preparing bills for mailing and detecting financial fraud situations.

After one year, 25 of the 87 people with mild cognitive impairment had developed Alzheimer's disease-type dementia. The people with no memory problems and those with mild cognitive impairment who did not develop dementia maintained the same test scores one year later. But the people who had developed dementia scored lower on the initial test and dropped by 9% on their scores for chequebook management skills one year later. These participants, for example, wrote out the check correctly but failed to calculate the balance after making the transaction.
Changes in money management skills are detectable, and caregivers and doctors should watch older people with mild cognitive impairment for signs of problems in this area, said the authors of the study, from the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

"Caregivers should consider overseeing a person's checking transactions, contacting the person's bank to find money issues such as bills being paid twice, or become co-signers on the checking account so that both signatures are required for checks written above a certain amount. Online banking and bill payment services are also good options," the lead author of the study, Daniel Marson, has suggested.