ABSTRACT
In the 1980s, various researchers proposed screening older people for the early detection of disorders such as dementia. At this time, it was probably seen as a possible solution to the problem being faced – a steadily increasing population of older people, and hence an increasing number of people with dementia. The scope for the early detection of dementing disorders in older people has been reviewed (for example, Cooper & Bickel, 1984). The authors concluded that while there was an urgent need for psychogeriatric screening methods, such methods were still at an early experimental stage. Indeed, no major progress in this field can be expected unless early case detection can somehow be integrated with methods of systematic surveillance of the at-risk older population. The practical problems, as well as the ethical dilemmas, still prevail.
