Screening for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease can give seniors and their families advance warning to plan and prepare for oncoming decline.

But there’s also concern that a positive screening result might stress a family out, with adult children anxious over their role as caregivers and seniors worried about losing their independence.

Such stress is not a good reason to hold off on screening for dementia and Alzheimer’s, a large-scale clinical trial has concluded.

Screenings performed during primary care appointments did not cause psychological distress for a senior’s family members, researchers reported April 20 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

“The study provides reassuring evidence that screening did not worsen family members’ quality of life, depression or anxiety over two years,” lead researcher Nicole Fowler, an associate professor of medicine at Indiana University, said in a news release.

Unfortunately, the study also showed that these screenings did not leave family members better prepared for caregiving, researchers found.

“This study makes an important distinction: Screening alone is not the same as early diagnosis and getting people and their families linked to care,” Fowler said. “Early diagnosis may help caregivers when it actually leads to diagnostic assessment, treatment and ongoing support, not simply when a screening test is offered.”

For the new study, researchers analyzed data for more than 1,800 patient-family member pairs who received primary care at 29 Indiana clinics. The patients were all at least 65 years old.

The pairs were randomly placed in one of three groups. Either a patient received screening for cognitive impairment, received screening plus referral to a diagnostic follow up, or didn’t get screened at all.

As part of the study, family members filled out a quality-of-life measure across two years that includes physical and mental health scores. They also were assessed for symptoms of anxiety or depression, and tested on preparedness for caregiving.

Overall, about 5% of patients screened positive for cognitive impairment.

There were no significant differences in mental health between family members whose seniors received screening and those who didn’t, researchers said.

However, family members also didn’t become more capable of caregiving, the study showed. 

These results show that better systems need to be built around any dementia screening process to ensure that patients receive proper diagnosis and care, Fowler said.

For example, new blood tests for early Alzheimer’s disease have been developed, and these tests can steer patients toward promising new treatments and clinical trials, she said.

"Delayed diagnosis is associated with greater caregiver stress, burden and isolation, and early detection may help families through education, earlier intervention and support," Fowler said. "We also know that collaborative dementia care programs that work alongside primary care can improve patient and caregiver outcomes, and that newer disease-modifying therapies are only approved for earlier-stage Alzheimer's disease.”