Living Alone with Cognitive Impairment: Findings from the National Health and Aging Trends Study

Although most individuals experiencing cognitive impairment (CI) reside with a caregiver, an estimated 800,000 live alone. Such individuals may have an increased risk for injury to self or others through self-neglect as a result of the CI symptoms. While persons living alone with CI have been identified as an important area for needed research, few studies have been able to examine this population due to the challenges of identifying and recruiting study participants. By using the National Health & Aging Trends Study data set, the researchers explored the characteristics to describe this population. The results of this study indicated that the majority of persons living with CI were older, widowed females who were not diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia but tested positive on cognitive screening measures. Further, the majority of persons living alone with CI relied on adult children and paid professionals as the primary care providers.