Brazil's Silent Crisis: 80% of Elderly With Dementia Go Undiagnosed

Millions of elderly Brazilians live with unmanaged dementia without diagnosis, limiting access to treatments that could slow cognitive decline and improve quality of life.

In Brazil, the quiet unraveling of millions of minds goes largely unnamed — and therefore largely unaddressed. A landmark study from the Federal University of São Paulo reveals that more than four in five elderly Brazilians living with dementia have never received a formal diagnosis, a gap that deepens sharply along the fault lines of poverty and illiteracy. What is at stake is not merely a medical oversight, but the dignity and agency of an aging generation navigating cognitive decline without guidance, language, or care — and a healthcare system that may soon be overwhelmed by what it has lo

Brazil's Silent Crisis: 80% of Elderly With Dementia Go Undiagnosed

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