Homebound Seniors More at Risk for Dementia

Homebound seniors are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as more active individuals.

Investigators at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago followed 1,294 seniors from two separate studies. None of the study subjects exhibited dementia symptoms at the beginning of either study.

During an average of 4.4 years, 180 participants developed Alzheimer’s. Of this group, patients who self-reported that they never left their home environments during an average week were two times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those who periodically traveled out of town.