What Is The Life Expectancy Of Someone With Vascular Dementia

What Are The Signs Of End

It is important for caregivers to know when an individual with dementia is close to the end of their life, because it helps ensure they receive the right amount of care at the right time. It can be difficult to know exactly when this time is due to the variable nature of dementias progression, but understanding common end-of-life symptoms of seniors with dementia can help. Below is a timeline of signs of dying in elderly people with dementia:

Final Six Months

• A diagnosis of another condition such as cancer, congestive heart failure or COPD
• An increase in hospital visits or admissions

Final Two-to-Three Months

• Speech limited to six words or less per day
• Difficulty in swallowing or choking on liquids or food
• Unable to walk or sit upright without assistance
• Incontinence

• Hands, feet, arms and legs may be increasingly cold to the touch
• Inability to swallow
• Terminal agitation or restlessness
• An increasing amount of time asleep or drifting into unconsciousness
• Changes in breathing, including shallow breaths or periods without breathing for several seconds or up to a minute

Patients with dementia are eligible to receive hospice care if they have a diagnosis of six months or less to live if the disease progresses in a typical fashion. Once a patient begins experiencing any of the above symptoms, it is time to speak with a hospice professional about how they can help provide added care and support.

Life Expectancy By Stage Of Alzheimers/dementia

It can be difficult to figure out if a loved one is officially diagnosed with Alzheimers or dementia, especially when symptoms may be murky. In general, symptoms may change or worsen over time, even before any official dementia-related diagnosis.

If you are concerned about early-onset Alzheimers or other types of dementia, you can speak with your physician and review your medical history and the concerns you may have about memory loss and other symptoms. After that, your physician will decide whether you require imaging tests or CT scans, or an MRI to get a better look at your brain for an Alzheimers or dementia marker.

FYI: Finding the right medical alert system for a loved one with dementia can be challenging. Read my list of medical alert systems for dementia to learn more about how these devices can help.

Another way to get an overview of the stages of dementia is the Global Deterioration Scale, a measurement and assessment tool for dementia. Developed by Dr. Barry Reisberg, the Global Deterioration Scale gauges the various stages and levels of severity for Alzheimers and other types of degenerative dementia. It also helps caregivers and individuals have a better understanding of the various stages of dementia.

Typically, an individual who receives an Alzheimers diagnosis can expect to live eight to 12 more years, and some people exceed this. It all varies based on the individuals underlying health conditions, lifestyle, early diagnosis, and other factors.

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.

Read our guide on the types of Power of Attorney and how to set up a Lasting Power of Attorney.

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What Is The Average Life Expectancy

Life expectancy varies for each person with AD. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is eight to 10 years. In some cases, however, it can be as short as three years or as long as 20 years.

AD can go undiagnosed for several years, too. In fact, the average length of time between when symptoms begin and when an AD diagnosis is made is 2.8 years.

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.”

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Why Knowing Life Expectancy Is Useful

Knowing what to expect, including life expectancy helps with planning. Someone predicted to survive for five or six years, as opposed to two years, will want to make more extensive plans, including getting an estate in order, activity planning, and budget. Knowing how quickly the disease is expected to progress symptomatically can impact care decisions. If the disease is predicted to come on very quickly, for example, then skipping traditional assisted living and looking into memory care or a nursing home might be the best option.

Knowing when full-time care becomes a requirement, either at-home or in a memory care residence, is especially useful given the high cost of care. It is estimated that 50% of nursing home residents have some level of dementia and over 60% of nursing home residents care is paid for by Medicaid. Medicaid eligibility is complicated, and families can spend up to 5 years waiting for a loved one with dementia to become Medicaid-eligible. Therefore, knowing how soon care is required can make a huge financial difference.

Contribute anonymously to our dementia life expectancy database. Start here.

Tests For Vascular Dementia

There’s no single test for vascular dementia.

The tests that are needed to make a diagnosis include:

• an assessment of symptoms for example, whether these are typical symptoms of vascular dementia
• a full medical history, including asking about a history of conditions related to vascular dementia, such as strokes or high blood pressure
• an assessment of mental abilities this will usually involve several tasks and questions
• a brain scan, such as an MRI scan or CT scan, to look for any changes that have happened in your brain

Find out more about the tests used to diagnose dementia.

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What Is Vascular Dementia

Considered the second most common dementia behind Alzheimers, Vascular Dementia accounts for 20-30 % of dementia cases. Vascular Dementia occurs when thinking skills are rapidly changed, usually following suit after a major event like strokes. The condition usually goes from mild to worse, with time progression. Vascular Dementia, because of its behaviors and properties, is often credited as Alzheimers Disease, however the two are slightly different in their behaviors.

Caring For Someone With A Dementia Diagnosis

Finding out someone you care about has dementia can be a piece of life-shattering news. So many questions, fears, and sorrows come with the realization that a friend or family member will soon be rapidly declining in their last years of life.

There are ways to find peace, support, and adequate care for your loved one with dementia. It might take some time at first, but developing a care plan can make everyones life easier in the next phase.

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Life Expectancy And Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. Abnormal proteins cause steadily increasing brain damage. This initially affects thought and memory and remember and progressively causes failure of all body systems.

Alzheimers is typically diagnosed at the mild dementia stage when memory and planning problems start to affect daily life. The life expectancy for an individual with Alzheimer’s is usually between 8-12 years from diagnosis however, someone fit and healthy on diagnosis could live considerably longer. In one American study, people lived from between one and twenty-six years after first spotting symptoms, so the variation is enormous.

How Do You Care For Someone With Vascular Dementia

Here are 5 ways you can care for your loved one.

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Does The Type Of Dementia Affect Life Expectancy

The type of dementia a person has can also affect how long they live with dementia. These figures for the number of years a person may live after a diagnosis are just averages and some people live longer than this.

This information may be upsetting to read and think about but it is very important to remember that, with the right support, people with dementia can live well at all stages.

How To Get A Better Idea Of Life Expectancy For Your Individual Dementia Journey

Your GP should always be your first point of contact when it comes to understanding life expectancy, and preparing for the future.

After a dementia diagnosis your GP will closely track your cognitive status, physical abilities and how you get on with daily activities during your annual review. If your symptoms change suddenly, you can make an appointment with them anytime for support.

While theres no cure, there are things you can try to keep your mind active, and reduce risk factors for associated conditions.

If you have a history of low mental health, your doctor may suggest starting a form of antidepressant. Depression and anxiety can be common for those living with dementia, particularly vascular dementia.

In older people, depressive symptoms can include difficulty getting enough quality sleep, feeling agitated, and body aches. In the later stages of dementia people with depression can become very tearful and go through periods of weight-loss.

Because these symptoms can be damaging, your GP will likely encourage you to try a form of talking therapy if youre in the early stages of dementia. While dementia can make it more difficult to communicate and reason, having a safe space to talk to a professional counsellor or therapist without judgment can be comforting.

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Caring For Those With Dementia

Researcher Murna Downs, PhD, says most people don’t recognize that dementia is a disease people live with, and not just a death sentence.

Downs’ research focuses on quality-of-life issues among dementia patients.

“People with dementia live a long time, and we now know that there is a lot of awareness,” she says. “People assume that if someone doesn’t know where they are they have no other capacity for thinking and feeling. But people with dementia continue to think and to laugh and to feel the rain on their faces, and to try to make sense of their world.”

She adds that patients are often isolated because family members or other caregivers fail to recognize their need for interaction and stimulation.

“The therapeutic potential of human contact cannot be underestimated,” she says. “You would never put a small child in a chair and let them sit there all day with nothing to do. Children need stimulation and human contact and so do people with dementia.”

Show Sources

SOURCES: Xie, J. BMJ Online First, Jan. 11, 2008. Carol Brayne,professor, lecturer in epidemiology, department of public health and primarycare, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, England. MurnaDowns, PhD, professor in dementia studies, Bradford Dementia Group, Universityof Bradford, England Ferri, C.P. Lancet, 2005 vol 366: pp2112-2117.

What Foods Are Bad For Dementia

The MIND diet specifically limits red meat, butter and margarine, cheese, pastries and sweets, and fried or fast food. You should have fewer than 4 servings a week of red meat, less than a tablespoon of butter a day, and less than a serving a week of each of the following: whole-fat cheese, fried food, and fast food.

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How Does Dementia Relate To Aphasia

Most aphasia types are caused by stroke or other acute brain injury that damages brain tissue in areas important for language processing. However, a type of aphasia called primary progressive aphasia is a neurodegenerative disease, which results from progressive deterioration of brain tissue in areas important for speech and language. It is often caused by diseases such as s Alzheimers or Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. Although the first symptoms are problems with speech and language, other problems associated with the underlying disease, such as memory loss and personality changes often occur later. Learn more about diagnosing PPA and managing PPA.

Stage : Second Last Stage Late Vascular Dementia

This is the last but very important out of the vascular dementia stages that I would like to reveal in this entire article and want you and my other readers to know for good.

In case the condition has still progressed, there is not much medicine can do. People in this stage have basically no ability of speaking or communicating. The only thing you can do is to give people who are in the last stage of vascular dementia the possible care and love. They really need the help for all of their activities including eating, walking and using the toilet. This is known as the late vascular dementia.

Each individual with vascular dementia experiences the illness in their own way. However, these signs and symptoms described below often occur in the later stages of most cases.

Communication problems: The people with vascular dementia will experience problems with understanding what is happening around them. They find it hard to communicate with other people. Gradually, they may lose their speech or repeat a few words. However, their expression and body language can give you clues about their feeling. Many people can still return and receive emotional signals after they lose the ability to speak.

There are some things that can put you at risk of suffering from vascular dementia. Some of the risk factors can be controlled such as lifestyle, but some others cannot be controlled such as age and genes. Some risk factors contribute to underlying cardiovascular dementia.

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Outlook For Vascular Dementia

Vascular dementia will usually get worse over time. This can happen in sudden steps, with periods in between where the symptoms do not change much, but it’s difficult to predict when this will happen.

Home-based help will usually be needed, and some people will eventually need care in a nursing home.

Although treatment can help, vascular dementia can significantly shorten life expectancy.

But this is highly variable, and many people live for several years with the condition, or die from some other cause.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with dementia, remember that you’re not alone. The NHS and social services, as well as voluntary organisations, can provide advice and support for you and your family.

What Are The Average Life Expectancy Figures For The Most Common Types Of Dementia

The average life expectancy figures for the most common types of dementia are as follows:

• Alzheimers disease around eight to 10 years. Life expectancy is less if the person is diagnosed in their 80s or 90s. A few people with Alzheimers live for longer, sometimes for 15 or even 20 years.
• Vascular dementia around five years. This is lower than the average for Alzheimers mostly because someone with vascular dementia is more likely to die from a stroke or heart attack than from the dementia itself.
• Dementia with Lewy bodies about six years. This is slightly less than the average for Alzheimers disease. The physical symptoms of DLB increase a persons risk of falls and infections.
• Frontotemporal dementia about six to eight years. If a person has FTD mixed with motor neurone disease a movement disorder, their dementia tends to progress much quicker. Life expectancy for people who have both conditions is on average about two to three years after diagnosis.

To find out about the support available to someone at the end of their life, and to their carers, family and friends, see our End of life care information.

You can also call Alzheimers Society on 0333 150 3456 for personalised advice and support on living well with dementia, at any stage.

Dementia Connect support line

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