A slipping credit score is one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s Disease: Study

Afalling credit score is a sign of financial distress. For older Americans, it might also be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease or another memory disorder.

In a new study, researchers at Georgetown University and the New York Federal Reserve analyzed credit-payment and Medicare-diagnosis data on more than 2.4 million Americans, finding that a slipping credit score in older adults is often one of the first observable symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

“The results are striking in their clarity and consistency,” Carole Roan Gresenz, a health economist at Georgetown and the study’s lead researcher, said in a statement. “The financial decline we observe mirrors the cognitive decline that these individuals are experiencing.”

In the U.S., nearly 6 million people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or a related disease. The vast majority of people who suffer from the incurable degenerative brain disease are 65 years or older.

 

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