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People with dementia getting lost in Australia: Dementia‐related missing person reports in the media
Author(s) -
MacAndrew Margaret,
Schnitker Linda,
Shepherd Nicole,
Beattie Elizabeth
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/ajag.12542
Subject(s) - dementia , autonomy , medicine , newspaper , missing data , gerontology , psychiatry , advertising , disease , political science , pathology , machine learning , computer science , law , business
Objective This study aimed to understand the circumstances in which people with dementia become lost, and the outcomes of these incidents. Methods A search was conducted of news articles published in Australia between 2011 and 2015 reporting a missing person with a diagnosis of dementia. Results Over the five‐year period, 130 missing person cases were reported. The average age of the missing person was 75 years with more men (74%) than women reported missing. Most missing persons travelled on foot (62%) and were last seen at home (66%). The newspaper reports described 92 (71%) of the individuals being found. Of these, 60% were found well, 20% were found injured, and 20% were deceased. Conclusions People with dementia are at risk of becoming lost from their homes or health‐care settings, and this can have catastrophic outcomes. Care strategies need to focus on promoting autonomy while ensuring adverse outcomes are minimised.