Wandering in dementia sufferers

Ninety‐two patients with dementia were thoroughly assessed by domiciliary interview and a period of day hospital attendance which included the completion of Camdex and Camcog schedules. Domiciliary visit letters described getting lost outside the home as a problem in 20.6% of patients, and inside the home in 3.3% of patients. The corresponding figures obtained from interviews were 36.9% and 28.3%. According to interview data, patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer's type were more likely to get lost outside the home than those with vascular dementia and there was no correlation between the severity of cognitive impairment and the prevalence of getting lost outside the home.