Is Ignorance Bliss? Do you really want to know that you will develop dementia?

Researchers at San Francisco VA Medical Center have developed a simple test that can be given by any physician predicts a person’s risk for developing dementia within six years with 87 percent accuracy. According to a press release issued by the University of California, San Francisco, "the test, developed in the study by the researchers, is a 14-point index combining medical history, cognitive testing, and physical examination. It requires no special equipment and can be given in a clinical setting such as a doctor’s office or at a patient’s bedside."

But this raises the question, would you really want to know that you are almost certainly going to develop dementia within the next seven years? What might this do to your quality of life now? Would you experience a panic attack every time you couldn't remember someone's name or forgot where your keys were? What happens if you were part of the small percentage of false positives?

Advance warning is almost always a good thing and I suppose it is here too. Knowing that you were likely to develop dementia would give you time to prepare for it and address issues such as care, finances, etc. But I have to admit even with these benefits I'm not 100% sure that I would want to take this test.