Publicaciones científicas
Medical help-seeking intentions among patients with early Alzheimer's disease
Alberto Villarejo-Galende 1 , Elena García-Arcelay 2 , Gerard Piñol-Ripoll 3 , Antonio Del Olmo-Rodríguez 4 , Félix Viñuela 5 , Mercè Boada 6 , Emilio Franco-Macías 7 , Almudena Ibañez de la Peña 8 , Mario Riverol 9 , Albert Puig-Pijoan 10 , Pedro Abizanda-Soler 11 , Rafael Arroyo 12 , Miquel Baquero-Toledo 13 , Inmaculada Feria-Vilar 14 , Mircea Balasa 15 , Ángel Berbel 16 , Eloy Rodríguez-Rodríguez 17 , Alba Vieira-Campos 18 , Guillermo Garcia-Ribas 19 , Silvia Rodrigo-Herrero 20 , Alberto Lleó 21 , Jorge Maurino 2
Background: Limited information is available on the active process of seeking medical help in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) at early stages. The aim of this study was to assess the phenomenon of medical help-seeking in early AD and to identify associated factors.
Methods: A multicenter, non-interventional study was conducted including patients of 50-90 years of age with prodromal or mild AD (National Institute on Aging/Alzheimer's Association criteria), a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score ≥ 22, and a Clinical Dementia Rating-Global score (CDR-GS) of 0.5-1.0. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted.
Results: A total of 149 patients were included. Mean age (SD) was 72.3 (7.0) years, 50.3% were female, and 87.2% had a CDR-GS score of 0.5. Mean disease duration was 1.4 (1.8) years. Ninety-four (63.1%) patients sought medical help, mostly from neurologists. Patients with help-seeking intentions were mostly female (60.6%) with a CDR-GS score of 0.5 (91.5%) and had a greater awareness of diagnosis, poorer quality of life, more depressive symptoms, and a more severe perception of their condition than their counterparts. Lack of help-seeking intentions was associated with male sex (p = 0.003), fewer years of education (p = 0.005), a low awareness of diagnosis (p = 0.005), and a low emotional consequence of the condition (p = 0.016).
Conclusion: Understanding the phenomenon of active medical help-seeking may facilitate the design of specific strategies to improve the detection of cognitive impairment, especially in patients with a lower level of educational attainment and poor awareness of their condition.
CITA DEL ARTÍCULO Front Psychiatry. 2023 Dec 19:14:1290002. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1290002
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