Has COVID‐19 affected dementia diagnosis rates in England?

Abstract

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the provision of care and routine activity of all National Health Service (NHS) services. While General Practitioner referrals to memory services in England have returned to pre-pandemic levels, the estimated dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) fell by 5.4% between March 2020 and February 2023. Methods:In this paper we explore whether this reduction is accurate or is an artefact of the way the NHS collects data. Results:We explore the processes that may have affected national dementia diagnosis rates during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions:We discuss what action could be taken to improve the DDR in the future.

Editorial: Early indicators of cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, and related dementias captured by neurophysiological tools

“…Furthermore, the influence of pandemic-related lockdowns and lockdown-like measures during conflicts on dementia diagnosis rates cannot be overlooked (Bick and Nelson, 2016 ; Brown et al, 2020 ; Tani et al, 2020 ; Ismail et al, 2021 ; Corney et al, 2022 ; Górski et al, 2022 ). The global disruptions trigger a significant decline in individuals seeking treatment for dementia-related symptoms, resulting in dementia diagnoses falling below anticipated levels (Axenhus et al, 2022 ; Hazan et al, 2023 ). This highlights the urgent necessity for innovative yet cost-effective early-stage intervention strategies to adeptly confront the swiftly evolving global challenge (Irazoki et al, 2020 ; Tokunaga et al, 2021 ; Braun et al, 2024 ).…”