The monitoring of money management difficulties experienced by people can help with the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, according to new research from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
The study shows that artificial intelligence (AI) based models using clinically informed lead indicators and data related to banking behaviour can predict clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) four years in advance.
Lead indicators include age, education, health and gender.
The early-stages of dementia, before official diagnosis, can see people making financial mistakes and experiencing a deterioration of financial skills.
Using a machine learning algorithm, the findings show that 71% of individuals clinically diagnosed with ADRD are identified four years in advance when considering money management difficulties alongside lead indicators.
"For individuals living in a single person household, this rate rises to 92%," said Professor Cal Muckley from UCD College of Business.
"Also, relative to other lead indicators, excluding age, money management difficulties are ranked the most important lead indicator of a clinical diagnosis of dementia," Professor Muckley said.
The study is the first to show the importance of money management difficulties when it comes to predicting dementia.
The researchers said that the findings demonstrate that financial institutions with insight into the financial transactions of older customers are uniquely positioned to identify who might be in a vulnerable situation due to early-stage dementia.
