Public knowledge of late-life cognitive decline and dementia in an international sample

Abstract

Background and objectives

One method of mitigating global increases in dementia prevalence involves assessing public knowledge and then educating laypeople. We measured knowledge of late-life pathological cognitive decline in a diverse, international sample using a standardized, validated instrument.

Research design and methods: We assessed 3619 international respondents recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk with a 44-item dementia knowledge survey and 18 sociodemographic items.

Results

Results suggested that the following sociodemographic variables are associated with less overall knowledge: young age, male gender, low educational attainment, born in a developing nation, of ethnic minority status, not married, and less prior dementia experience. Specific knowledge gaps emerged in cerebrovascular disease, delirium versus dementia, treatment of behavioral dementia symptoms, Alzheimer’s disease genetics, Parkinson’s disease symptoms, and characteristics of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and subjective cognitive decline.

Discussion and implications: Findings may facilitate effective multinational dementia education initiatives by providing specific recommendations as to which sociodemographic populations and content knowledge domains will benefit the most from limited resources.