The recognition that most patients with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia who become lost will go no more than a mile or so from their residence may help professionals develop more effective search strategies, according to an article in the November/December issue of the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.

In the current study, an American researcher studied U.S. newspaper reports from 1998 to 2002 describing 93 incidents in which people with dementia died as a result of becoming lost. The news accounts included details such as diagnosis, how the person had become lost, and specifics of where and how their bodies were found, as well as demographic information such as age and gender.

"These (dementia-related) searches can vary greatly from a search for a healthy missing adult or even a child because of the dementia patient's tendency to stick close to home in an isolated spot," said Meredeth Rowe, PhD, the study's author. "Thus, law enforcement officers must conduct repeated searches that comb nearby areas thoroughly."

Rowe noted another major difference between people with dementia and children or other lost adults, saying "There were no reports of these individuals responding to calls of searchers looking for them, even though searchers often were very close to where the individual was eventually found. The problem-solving skills of these individuals are impaired, so when they become scared, they may try to find protection from the outside world instead of responding to aid."

Rowe's previous research focused on tracking the patterns of missing dementia patients who were found dead or alive. Although only a small percentage of those found were dead, the deceased patients shared similar characteristics, spurring Rowe to launch the current study to pinpoint patterns and identify ways to prevent a tragic outcome.

Of the 93 incidents analyzed for the current study, the bodies of 87 percent of the lost patients were found in unpopulated natural areas around their homes, such as woods, bodies of water, fields, ditches, brush, wetlands, ravines or canals. Most patients had left areas where they could be easily seen and secluded themselves in natural and abandoned areas, where they succumbed to the natural elements.

Based on the findings, Rowe suggests that “…the first 12 hours of a search should focus on populated areas, such as residential yards, businesses, highways and sidewalks. However, after the first 6 to 12 hours, it is critical for law enforcement to intensively search natural and secluded areas in the one-mile radius of where the person disappeared."

Caregivers should not try to logically deduce where dementia patients may have been wandering to when they became lost, such as a former home or business, Rowe said. She ahs found that a patient's intended path is usually completely unpredictable.