Abstract
Dementia-related missing incidents are a highly prevalent issue worldwide. Despite being associated with potentially life-threatening consequences, very little is still known about what environmental risk factors may potentially contribute to these missing incidents. The aim of this study was to conduct a retrospective, observational analysis using a large sample of police case records of missing individuals with dementia (n = 210). Due to the influence that road network structure has on our real world navigation, we aimed to explore the relationship between road intersection density, intersection complexity, and orientation entropy to the dementia-related missing incidents. For each missing incident location, the above three variables were computed at a 1 km radius buffer zone around these locations; these values were then compared to that of a set of random locations. The results showed that higher road intersection density, intersection complexity, and orientation entropy were all significantly associated with dementia-related missing incidents. Our results suggest that these properties of road network structure emerge as significant environmental risk factors for dementia-related missing incidents, informing future prospective studies as well as safeguarding guidelines.
Highlights
Dementia-related missing incidents are a highly prevalent issue worldwide
Our hypothesis that increased road orientation entropy would be associated with the missing incidents was true only when using a 2 km radius buffer zone, and not 1 km
Our results overall suggest that increased intersection density, intersection complexity, and road orientation entropy may all be environmental risk factors causing people with dementia to go missing
Summary
Dementia-related missing incidents are a highly prevalent issue worldwide. Despite being associated with potentially life-threatening consequences, very little is still known about what environmental risk factors may potentially contribute to these missing incidents. Due to the influence that road network structure has on our real world navigation, we aimed to explore the relationship between road intersection density, intersection complexity, and orientation entropy to the dementia-related missing incidents. The third variable is of interest as it measures the orientation of roads within a given area of the environment, and in doing so informs us of how ordered (or disordered) the overall layout of the road network is within these a reas[22] To this end, we conducted a retrospective analysis of records of dementia-related missing incidents in a single region of the UK over a 3-year period. We hypothesize that higher road orientation entropy would be associated with increased missing incidents, as road networks with a high entropy would be less ordered in structure and more complex to navigate through
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
