After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, many people relocate, according to a new report.
The study was published Monday in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers analyzed Medicare data that showed the residential history of more than 1.6 million beneficiaries. They looked at those who had been diagnosed with dementia, heart attack, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or colon cancer in 2016.
The team also noted where people lived, including in nursing homes, tracking data from 2012 to 2020 for each participant.
In the four years before receiving a dementia diagnosis, there was no difference observed in where people lived or whether they relocated, the study found. But within four years of being diagnosed with dementia, 22% of people moved to a different county in the US, the team found, a rate 1.4 times higher (5.8 percentage points more likely) than people who’d been diagnosed with other conditions, such as heart attack or COPD.
People with a dementia diagnosis were also more likely (by 2.4 percentage points) to move to another state, the data showed.
The researchers noted that most migrations occurred within the first year after diagnosis, but they remained higher throughout the four-year period after diagnosis.
In most cases, they simply moved to another residence, rather than to a nursing home.
“One possible explanation is that individuals with dementia and their caregivers may choose to move closer to family or informal caregivers, either with independent housing arrangements or entering formal long-term care services,” the authors wrote in the study.
“Our findings illuminate the profound impact that a dementia diagnosis can have on an individual’s residential choices, challenging traditional conceptions of aging in place and adding depth to our understanding of the interplay between health and migration,” the researchers wrote.
The new data could have ramifications for older adults and those who serve them.
“As the global population ages and dementia prevalence increases, it becomes crucial for policymakers and communities to recognize and address the unique migration patterns and needs of individuals with this life-altering condition,” the authors wrote.
