Fear of Dementia in the General Population: Findings from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP).

Hajek, André; König, Hans-Helmut

The aim was to identify the determinants of fear of dementia in the general population. Data were taken from the innovation sample (n = 1,498; year 2012) of a nationally representative, longitudinal study. Summarizing, 28.8% reported no fear of dementia, 34.3% reported a little fear of dementia, 21.2% reported some fear of dementia, and 15.7% reported severe fear of dementia. Regressions showed that increased fear of dementia was associated with increased age, being female, an increased perceived own risk for developing dementia, an increased agreement that a diagnosis of dementia would ruin one's life, and a decreased perception that memory degradation is preventable. Addressing modifiable factors may assist in reducing fear of dementia.