In the five years before a dementia diagnosis, a person’s average credit score may start to weaken and their payment delinquencies rise, New York Federal Reserve researchers found after analysing US credit reporting and Medicare data.More than 421,000 Australians are estimated to be living with dementia in 2024, and while young people can be affected, it is more common in people aged over 65.
But symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other related disorders (ADRD) may be appearing long before diagnosis.
Errors in financial decision making are often among the first noticeable signs caused by early-stage cognitive impairment.
And while the effects of pre-diagnosis ADRD were similar between women and men, credit scores recovered more quickly for men than women post-diagnosis.
Researchers said the gender disparity could reflect lower out-of-pocket costs associated with formal caregiving for men affected by ADRD, because wives more commonly provide informal care for a husband than vice versa.
It could also be due to the average difference in oversight over household finances between genders, or the differences the effect of living alone versus living with others has on men and women.
Source: Financial mistakes among the first signs of dementia