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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Dementia Resources for Health Professionals: Assessing Cognitive Impairment in Older Patients

About this resource:

HHS Non-systematic Review

Source: National Institute on Aging

Last Reviewed: March 2020

Workgroups: Dementias, Including Alzheimer's Disease Workgroup

This guide is meant for primary care practitioners to use in screening for cognitive impairment in older adults. It explains the importance of screening, when it should be done, and how to work it into visits. The guide also provides links to screening tools and other sources of information. Identifying the causes of cognitive impairment early provides benefits to older adults, because it creates opportunities to take steps like: 

  • Getting treatment for underlying causes
  • Creating plans for long-term care
  • Making sure the older adult has a strong support system that includes help with health, legal, and financial issues
  • Providing the older adult with access to other important resources
Read more about this resource

Objectives related to this resource (2)

Increase the proportion of older adults with dementia, or their caregivers, who know they have it — DIA‑01
Baseline only
Increase the proportion of adults with subjective cognitive decline who have discussed their symptoms with a provider — DIA‑03
Baseline only

Suggested Citation

1.

National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging. (n.d.). Dementia Resources for Health Professionals: Assessing Cognitive Impairment in Older Patients. National Institute on Aging. Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/assessing-cognitive-impairment-older-patients#us