Medscape (7/18, Jeffrey) reports that a study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference that surveyed “access to guns by patients with dementia finds that among consecutive patients being evaluated for cognitive problems, caregivers and family members did not consistently remove guns from their homes or keep them in a locked state.”
The study included 495 patients, 378 of whom had dementia, including Alzheimer’s. The study found that of participants “with a gun in the home, 62 (71%) had dementia; 33 (37%) had delusions, of which the majority (73%) were persecutory or paranoid delusions, and 15 (17%) had hallucinations, roughly half of which (47%) were hostile hallucinations.” The study authors recommended that physicians should ask about the presence of firearms during a patient visit.
Related Links:
— Medscape (requires login and subscription)