Rural patients with early-onset Alzheimer's are less likely to get treatment from specialists, who can mitigate disease

Rural Americans with early-onset Alzheimer's disease are less likely to get specialized care, according to a newly published study.

"Ohio State University researchers found rural patients with the disease, which occurs between the ages of 30 and 65, were typically seen exclusively by a primary-care physician and were less likely to undergo testing that would help doctors manage the condition," Adam Barnes reports for The Hill. "Researchers noted that patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s make up only 6 percent of Alzheimer’s diagnoses, but they said this form of the condition is usually more aggressive and leads to accelerated cognitive decline."

Early diagnosis can help patients and families make financial arrangements, seek support, and make other plans to prepare for the progression of the disease, according to lead author Wendy Yi Xu. But the testing required to make such a diagnosis is often unavailable to patients exclusively treated by a family doctor.

Researchers "said treatments could also overburden rural health care systems that are already stretched too thin, adding 'community health care leaders and policymakers must explore innovative solutions to deliver needed specialty care to early-onset patients,'" Barnes reports.