Benefits and Harms of Dementia Screening for Family Members of Older Adults

How does screening adults aged 65 years and older for dementia in primary care affect their family members’ health-related quality of life, stress, and perceived readiness to provide care?In this randomized clinical trial that included 1808 patient-family member dyads, there was no significant difference in benefit of screening to family members, measured by physical and mental component summary scores, and no difference in harm, measured by depression and anxiety between the screen and no screen groups over time.These findings suggest that screening older adults for dementia in primary care did not improve or worsen their family members’ quality of life or psychological well-being.

Corresponding Author: Nicole R. Fowler, PhD, MHSA, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, 1101 W 10th St, Indianapolis, IN 46202 (fowlern@iu.edu).

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