The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study,1conducted more than a decade ago, was the first major investigation of mistreatment of the elderlyin the United States. It found that 449924 persons aged 60 years or older had been physically abused, neglected, or in some way
mistreated in 1996. However, the study did not solicit data directly from older adults; rather, it
assessed Adult Protective Service records and sentinel (e.g., community professionals) reports.
Thus, it is very likely that the results greatly underestimated the true scope of the problem of
abuse of older Americans, because a large majority of cases are unreported and are undetected
by monitoring agents.