Simpler roads may stop people with dementia getting lost

NEIGHBOURHOODS with a high number of older people should have simpler road networks, researchers suggested, after a study found people with dementia had a higher risk of losing their way where intersections were complicated.

Research has suggested around 70 per cent of people with dementia may go missing at least once.

In this study, led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and published in the journal Scientific Reports, experts studied 210 police records of people with dementia going missing in Norfolk between 2014 to 2017, comparing each case to the nearby road network.

People with dementia can have difficulty with navigation, so the researchers l ooked at t he i mpact of t he complexity of road networks.

Vaisakh Puthusseryppady, a PHD student from UEA’S Norwich Medical School, said: “The more intersections there are, the more complex these intersections are, and the more disorganised the overall road network is, the bigger the problem for people with dementia.”

‘The more disorganised the overall roadwork is, the bigger the problem for people with dementia’

Prof Michael Hornberger, from UEA’S Norwich Medical School, said there can be “life-threatening consequences” when people with dementia go missing.

He hopes the findings will help to people to predict which areas pose a risk to people with dementia and where they are most likely to get lost, and help experts develop safeguarding measures.

For example, carers could use routes with fewer intersections when planning for independent journeys, and recommend GPS tracking devices in complex networks. And roads in neighbourhoods with a high number of older people could be straighter and more ordered with simpler intersections.

Emma Bould, programme partnerships manager at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the research could tackle the problem “in a radical way” by “influencing town planning to build safe, secure and easy-to-navigate high streets and neighbourhoods”. “Having a road, or a layout, or a building which is easy to navigate, has clear lines of sight, is good for people who may be new to the area … We’d call on more local authorities and town planners to make sure that they consider older people when developing.

“Often, what’s good for people with dementia is good for everybody.”