Being lost in an unfamiliar place is an unsettling feeling most of us have experienced. It requires cognitive and physical skills, and potentially other resources, to find our way and safely arrive at our destination.

This is why up to 60% of people with dementia will experience becoming lost during the course of living with the disease.

We have conducted a study of search-and-rescue incidents in the US and found people over the age of 65 who go missing will experience (sometimes fatal) harm more than we expected.

However, the results for older people with dementia were surprising and counterintuitive.