How Long Can Someone Live With Alzheimer’s

What Is The Life Expectancy For Someone With Dementia

This is an incredibly difficult question to answer as there are many influencing factors, including the persons age and gender, the type of dementia and the stage of the condition at diagnosis. The average life expectancy after diagnosis for someone with Alzheimers, the most common form of dementia is 10 years. However, dementia progresses differently in everyone, meaning people can live anywhere from 2 years to 26 years after diagnosis.

The main way in which health care professionals estimate dementia life expectancy is by using the Global Deterioration Scale , also called the Reisberg Scale. It shows the average time someone is expected to live depending on which stage of dementia they are at.

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How Dementia Causes Death

A person in the late stage of dementia is at risk for many medical complications, like a urinary tract infection and pneumonia . They’re at an even higher risk of certain conditions because they’re unable to move.

Trouble swallowing, eating, and drinking leads to weight loss, dehydration, and malnutrition. This further increases their risk of infection.

In the end, most people with late-stage dementia die of a medical complication related to their underlying dementia.

For example, a person may die from an infection like aspiration pneumonia. This type of pneumonia usually happens because of swallowing problems.

A person may also die from a blood clot in the lung because they are bedbound and not mobile.

It’s important to know that late-stage dementia is a terminal illness. This means that dementia itself can lead to death. Sometimes this is appropriately listed as the cause of death on a death certificate.

Recognising When Someone Is Reaching The End Of Their Life

Read about some of the signs that a person with dementia is nearing their death, and how you can support yourself as a carer, friend or relative.

It is important to know when a person with dementia is nearing the end of their life because it can help in giving them the right care. However it can be difficult to know when this time is.

This uncertainty can have a big impact on how the persons family feel, and may also affect how they feel themselves.

There are symptoms in the later stages of dementia that can suggest the person is reaching the final stage of their illness. These include:

• speech limited to single words or phrases that may not make sense,
• needing help with most everyday activities,
• eating less and having difficulties swallowing,
• bowel and bladder incontinence,
• being unable to walk or stand, problems sitting up and controlling the head, and becoming bed-bound.

It is likely that a person with dementia is nearing the end of their life if they have these symptoms, along with other problems such as frailty, infections that keep coming back, and pressure ulcers .

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What Is Alzheimers Disease

• Alzheimers disease is the most common type of dementia.
• It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment.
• Alzheimers disease involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language.
• It can seriously affect a persons ability to carry out daily activities.

Can Alzheimer’s Disease Be Prevented

As the exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is not clear, there’s no known way to prevent the condition.

But there are things you can do that may reduce your risk or delay the onset of dementia, such as:

• staying physically fit and mentally active

These measures have other health benefits, such as lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease and improving your overall mental health.

Read more about preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

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Average Dementia Survival: 45 Years

Study of Dementia Patients Shows Women Live Slightly Longer Than Men

Jan. 10, 2008 — The average survival time for people diagnosed with dementia is about four and a half years, new research shows. Those diagnosed before age 70 typically live for a decade or longer.

In an effort to learn more about survival characteristics among patients with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, researchers from the U.K.’s University of Cambridge followed 13,000 people who were aged 65 and older for 14 years.

During the follow-up, 438 of the study participants developed dementia and 356 of these people died.

Overall, women lived slightly longer than men after a diagnosis of dementia — around 4.6 years vs. 4.1 years. And frailer patients died sooner than healthier ones.

But being married, living at home, and even degree of mental decline were not found to have a big impact on survival.

The research is published in the Jan. 11 issue of the journal BMJ Online First.

“When we took everything into account, the big predictors of how long people survive remain sex, age, and functional ability,” University of Cambridge professor of epidemiology Carol Brayne tells WebMD. “Functional ability was a much better marker of how close someone was to death than cognitive decline.”

How To Test For Dementia

There is no single test that can determine a person is suffering from dementia. The doctor can diagnose different types of dementia such as Alzheimers based on their medical history.

This has to be done very carefully. In addition, the doctor may conduct laboratory tests, physical examinations, and changes in the way the patient thinks.

When all things are considered carefully, a doctor can be able to determine that a person is actually suffering from dementia with certainty. Determining the type of dementia can be hard, especially due to the fact that brain changes and symptoms that are associated with the different types of dementias sometimes overlap.

It is normal for the doctor to give a diagnosis of dementia without really specifying the type. In such a case, it is important for the patient to visit a specialist in this area like a psychologist or neurologist for a more specific diagnosis.

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Can A Person With Dementia Live Alone

Esther Kane Caregivers

Many adult children and caregivers whose parent have some form of dementia struggle with the decision as to whether or not their family members can continue living on their own or if it is time to move on to another form of housing or caregiving status.

• At What Point Do Dementia Patients Need 24 Hour Care?

At What Point Do Dementia Patients Need 24 Hour Care

From my experience, the initiation of 24 hour care is normally provided when the dementia has progressed to the point where your senior loved one is unable to perform daily tasks in order to care for themselves and/or they are a danger to themselves and/or others.

This can of course occur during the late stages of the disease but I have seen instances where caregivers began 24 hour care prior to that.

The symptoms of late stage / advanced dementia are generally:

• inability to communicate at all or to be understood
• inability to ambulate on their own
• inability to perform simple tasks such as eating, brushing their teeth, bathing, dressing, etc.
• inability or having difficulty with swallowing
• inability to follow simple commands or instructions

One of the biggest challenges an adult child will have is deciding when to make changes for yourself or a senior loved one with dementia. Such decisions can be extremely difficult and it may be possible that speaking to a social worker or geriatric care manager may help you through that process.

About the Author: Esther Kane

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How Long Can You Expect To Live With Alzheimers

A diagnosis of Alzheimers is a devastating experience for persons with the disease and their loved ones. As memory and mental skills wane, afflicted persons can no longer care for themselves, and family members must assume an increasing burden of care. Many patients and their families wish to know how long someone diagnosed with Alzheimers can be expected to live, and how long care will be needed. A new study out of the University of Washington in Seattle offers new clues about this important but difficult issue.

Weve always known that Alzheimers disease shortens patients lives, but there have been few long-term studies that relate patient age and symptoms to length of survival, said Eric B. Larson, M.D., M.P.H, a principal investigator for the study and director of the Center for Health Studies at Group Health Cooperative Center in Seattle.

The researchers identified some general trends about Alzheimers and life expectancy. It is important to remember, however, that survival times vary widely from person to person. There is no way to know for sure how long someone with Alzheimers will continue their downward spiral. Some live only a few years after diagnosis, while others are still going strong after a decade. This study identified some general trends that may help people with Alzheimers, their families, and their doctors plan for the future. Among the findings:

Women with Alzheimers tend to live longer than men.

Alzheimers cuts life expectancy.

Life Expectancy And Vascular Dementia

Repeated small strokes can damage the brain and cause vascular dementia. Its the second most common cause of the disease. The pattern of disease progression is different from the gradual deterioration of Alzheimers disease. The symptoms may be steady for a while, then suddenly get worse followed by a further period of stability. This reflects times when blood clots interrupt the blood supply to the brain, causing damage.

Because people with vascular dementia is linked to strokes, people affected often have other illnesses and may have worse general health. Research suggests that the average life expectancy is around four years. However, sudden or severe deterioration can happen when there is a further stroke.

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Age When Diagnosis Is Determined

The age at diagnosis, too, is important because an older individual may already be frail and vulnerable to additional life-shortening accidents, diseases, or infections. Life expectancy after a diagnosis of dementia decreases with increasing age for example, an average person diagnosed with Alzheimers disease between ages 70 and 79 can expect to survive seven more years, while diagnosis after age 90 is associated with an expected survival of only 2.8 additional years.

What Are The Symptoms

Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way. The different types of dementia tend to affect people differently, especially in the early stages.

A person with dementia will often have cognitive symptoms . They will often have problems with some of the following:

• Day-to-day memory difficulty recalling events that happened recently.
• Repetition repeating the same question or conversation frequently in a short space of time.
• Concentrating, planning or organising difficulties making decisions, solving problems or carrying out a sequence of tasks .
• Language difficulties following a conversation or finding the right word for something.
• Visuospatial skills – problems judging distances and seeing objects in three dimensions.
• Orientation – losing track of the day or date, or becoming confused about where they are.

Some people have other symptoms including movement problems, hallucinations or behaviour changes.

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Who Has Alzheimers Disease

• In 2020, as many as 5.8 million Americans were living with Alzheimers disease.1
• Younger people may get Alzheimers disease, but it is less common.
• The number of people living with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65.
• This number is projected to nearly triple to 14 million people by 2060.1
• Symptoms of the disease can first appear after age 60, and the risk increases with age.

The Start Of The Dying Process

As someones condition worsens and they get to within a few days or hours of dying, further changes are common. The person will often:

• deteriorate more quickly than before
• lose consciousness
• develop an irregular breathing pattern
• have cold hands and feet.

These changes are part of the dying process. Healthcare professionals can explain these changes so you understand what is happening. The person is often unaware of what is happening, and they should not be in pain or distress.

Medication can be used to treat the persons symptoms. If the person cant swallow, there are other ways of providing this, such as medication patches on the skin, small injections or syringe drivers . Speak to a GP or another health professional about this.

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When Do Dementia Patients Stop Eating

When a patient stops or refuses to eat, things can be very depressing for the caregiver. Drinking and eating are complex and have to do with a control center that is within the brain, which controls the muscles in the throat and neck area.

Dementia affects this part of the brain as it progresses and things like choking, coughing, grimacing as one swallows, clearing the throat, movements that are exaggerated, especially of the tongue and mouth, refusing to swallow, and spitting the food can be seen. This usually happens in the later stages of the disease.

Life Expectancy For Other Forms Of Dementia

Although Alzheimers disease is our focus here, a discussion of survival should consider other dementias as well. Survival after a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia is significantly shorter than survival after a diagnosis of Alzheimers disease. Survival lengths after a diagnosis of vascular dementia or frontotemporal dementia are intermediate. Compared to dementia, a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment is associated with a smaller reduction in life expectancy, and in many cases does not lead to Alzheimers disease and dementia.

Life expectancy after a diagnosis of Alzheimers disease varies from person to person. In the case of Genevieves mother, a white woman of age 75 at the time of her diagnosis, I estimated her expected survival to be around 6.7 years. This ballpark figure might prove correct or not since it is an estimate based on a population rather than a certainty for this individual. Having a general idea of expected survival assisted Genevieves family in facing the most probable future, planning, and valuing the preciousness of each remaining day.

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People With Dementia Have Shortened Life Expectancies

People with and other forms of live, on average, about four and a half years after their condition is diagnosed. This is based mainly on people in their 80s and 90s who have recently developed Alzheimers. In general, people with Alzheimers have about one-half the life expectancy, after , than people who do not have Alzheimers. The present findings are from a large collaborative study group in the United Kingdom. The findings appeared in the British Medical Journal.

The findings may help those who care for a loved one with Alzheimers disease to better plan for the future. The results highlight that dementia is a chronic condition, and that people with Alzheimers will likely need care for a number of years after their diagnosis. At the same time, the average survival time is under five years, with wide variations depending on age and physical condition at the time of diagnosis.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge followed more than 13,000 men and women, aged 65 and up, for 14 years. During that time, 438 of the study participants developed Alzheimers disease or , and more than 80 percent of those with dementia died.

The median age at death was 90 for women and 87 for men. Average survival times varied widely, however, depending on the age at diagnosis. Those who were diagnosed at a younger age, from 65 to 69, lived an average of 10.7 years after diagnsosis. Those diagnosed in their 90s, on the other hand, lived an average of 3.8 years.

A Growing Problem

Often Asked: How Long Can An Elderly Person Live With Dementia

Studies suggest that, on average, someone will live around ten years following a dementia diagnosis. However, this can vary significantly between individuals, some people living for more than twenty years, so its important to try not to focus on the figures and to make the very most of the time left.

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How Long Can A Person With Dementia Live

Generally speaking, the consensus amongst medical professionals is that, in general, a person with dementia or Alzheimers disease lives with the disease for about 10 years. This is a very general number, though.

Dementia is often called a life limiting condition although people have been known to live with it for as long as 26 years after they first start showing symptoms.

But of course, this depends on multiple factors

• other medical conditions the person has
• the specific type of dementia the person is afflicted with
• the living conditions, degree of social isolation, amount and type of support and home care the person has

For Families Speaking To Patients

Education is key. Educate yourself first. By now, youve probably done some research on this website. It might also be helpful for you to learn some common misconceptions about end-of-life care, as your loved one may be misinformed about the realities of hospice. View our video on dispelling hospice myths. Read and share “Considering Hospice: A Discussion Guide for Families” at HospiceCanHelp.com

Ask permission. Asking permission to discuss a difficult topic assures your loved one that you will respect his or her wishes and honor them. Say something like, I would like to talk about how we can continue to ensure you get the very best care and attention as your condition progresses. Is that okay?

Determine what is important to your loved one. Ask him or her to consider the future: What are you hoping for in the coming months, weeks or days? What are you most concerned about? The patient might express a desire to be comfortable, to stay at home or to not become a burden.

Discuss hospice care as a means of fulfilling the patients wishes. Now that your loved one has told you what is important to him or her, explain that hospice is a way of making sure wishes and desires are met. For some, the word hospice evokes a false notion of giving up. Explain that hospice is not about surrendering to disease or death. It is about bringing quality of life to the patients remaining months, weeks or days.

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