The impact of dementia on living arrangements among older Mexican and Mexican American adults

More and more people are living to older ages in much of the world, including in North and South America. In the Americas, the number of people living with dementia is expected to nearly double in the coming decades, increasing from 15 million in 2030 to over 27 million by 2050. Dementia is one of the most common causes of disability and dependence in the world and is a primary reason that older people need supportive living situations. In this brief, CAPS scholar Jacqueline Angel and colleagues, reports on a study describes changes in living arrangements among two groups of older adults living with dementia: Mexicans and Mexican American people living in the Southwestern United States. They found that as dementia progresses, it shaped late-life transitions in household living arrangements depending on family household resources and structure. For both Mexicans and Mexican Americans, dementia was clearly associated with living with others. Nevertheless, a significant portion of the oldest Mexicans and Mexican Americans with likely severe cognitive impairment continued to live alone. The authors argue that researchers and policymakers need to investigate what dementia care is possible within the fiscal constraints of low-income nations and low-resource communities in the U.S to inform efforts to support age-friendly dementia infrastructures.