Mortality in Dementia

Abstract

The objective of this work is to provide a review of the mortality risk in dementia and potential influencing factors. In order to do so, studies on mortality in dementia based on population-based samples of the last 15 years published in PubMed, Web of Science and PSYNDEXplus were considered. Without exception, all types of dementia are associated with a considerably increased mortality risk. Moreover, the risk of death rises with advancing severity of the disorder. Often, a more favorable course of the disease can be found in Alzheimer’s disease. Further questions, such as the influence of age and sex, cannot be answered conclusively. Very little information can be found on aspects concerning comorbidity, APOE polymorphism or depressive symptomatology.

Forecasting the global burden of Alzheimer's disease

“…For example, the model predicted that the median survival times for males diagnosed with Alzheimer's at ages 65, 75 and 85 were 7.9, 5.7 and 3.3 years, respectively; the predicted median survival times for females diagnosed at ages 65, 75 and 85 were 9.1, 7.2 and 4.3 years respectively. These model predictions are in good agreement with published studies on Alzheimer's disease (8)(9)(10), and in fact were within 6 months of empirical findings (10). The interpretation of this model is that the effect of Alzheimer's disease on mortality is to add 11% per year to the background mortality rates once the disease has progressed to late stage.…”

Body mass index, dementia, and mortality in the elderly

“…cancer, smoking, heart disease) are not important confounders in the association between low BMI and mortality, or that there is residual or unmeasured confounding by other conditions 6 . We sought to explore whether dementia, which is associated with weight loss 30 , lower BMI 9 , and higher mortality 1,[31][32][33][34][35] , could explain the association between low BMI and mortality. Dementia may cause weight loss and lower BMI due to feeding difficulties 7 and other catabolic changes that are not totally understood.…”

Leben Demenzkranke zu Hause länger als im Heim?

“…Prospective research is needed to gain more evidence about the impact of social factors, e.g., living conditions, on the survival time of demented patients. [16] oder beide Hauptdemenzformen unterscheiden sich nicht wesentlich bezüg-lich der Überlebenszeit [9].…”

“…2,5-fach erhöhte Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeit gegenüber Männern -, allerdings wird auch der Einfluss des Geschlechts auf die Sterblichkeit von Demenzkranken kontrovers beurteilt, ohne dass es diesbezüglich einen wissenschaftlichen Konsens gibt [9].…”