Care plans and planning

Background: It is believed that timely recognition and diagnosis of dementia is a pre-condition for improving care for both older adults with dementia and their informal caregivers. However, diagnosing dementia often occurs late in the disease. This means that a significant number of patients with early symptoms of dementia and their informal caregivers may lack appropriate care.

Objectives: To compare the effects of case management and usual care among community-dwelling older adults with early symptoms of dementia and their primary informal caregivers.