Scientists pinpoint exactly how long you’ll live after a dementia diagnosis – and it’s good news for women
Men can live as little as two years after a dementia diagnosis while women may survive up to nine, research suggests.
Dementia is a memory and independence robbing disorder where the brain progressively gets worse at functioning over time.
In its later stages it can lead to people struggling to eat and move which can trigger potentially deadly infections.
Now a new study by Dutch researchers suggests the life expectancy following diagnosis varies significantly between men and women.
Analysis data from 5million patients revealed that men with dementia lived, on average, for six and a half years if diagnosed at 60, with this dropping to two years when the patient was diagnosed at 85.
For women, the outlook was much better with female patients living an average of nine years when diagnosed at 60 and four and a half years if diagnosed at 85.
When compared to people without dementia, a diagnosis was found to reduce overall life expectancy in both men and women.
This was two years lost for those diagnosed at 85, three to four years for those diagnosed at 80, and up to 13 years for those diagnosed at 65.
Men can live as little as two years after a dementia diagnosis while women may survive more than twice this long, research suggests
This chart shows the survival probability of dementia patients in the years following their diagnoses
While men had a lower life expectancy when diagnosed, women, as a group, had worse survival odds overall.
This was because they were more likely to develop dementia later in life, when the physical complications it causes are more severe.
The experts, from the Erasmus MC University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, also analysed how survival differed across different types of dementia.
They found those with dementia triggered by Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of the disorder, lived on average 1.4 years longer than those with other types.
Dementia can also be caused by other, less common triggers including reduced blood flow to the brain, called vascular dementia, which can occur because of tiny strokes.
Experts also found that people diagnosed with dementia in Asia lived 1.4 years longer than those in Europe and North America.
Writing in the British Medical Journal the authors said the data showed ‘age at diagnosis is the most important determinant of prognosis in people with dementia’.
An early diagnosis of dementia is considered critical to better outcomes as, while there is no cure, there are treatments available that can combat symptoms and slow down the progression.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The disease can cause anxiety, confusion and short-term memory loss
Around 900,000 Brits are currently thought to have the memory-robbing disorder. But University College London scientists estimate this will rise to 1.7million within two decades as people live longer. It marks a 40 per cent uptick on the previous forecast in 2017
However, NHS data suggests only 64 per cent of people in England with dementia have a formal diagnosis.
This is in part due a limited availability of tests and what charities have said is a reluctance by some medics to diagnose the condition in order not to cause the patient ‘extra distress’.
Dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK, killing more than 75,000 people in 2023.
This equates to about one in ten deaths overall, ahead of other major killers such as heart disease, thrombosis, embolisms and any individual cancers.
Recent analysis by the Alzheimer’s Society estimates the overall annual cost of the dementia to the UK is £42billion a year, with families bearing the brunt.
An ageing population means these costs – which include lost earnings of unpaid carers – are set to soar to £90billion in the next 15 years.
Around 944,000 in the UK are thought to be living with dementia, while the figure is thought to be around 7million in the US.
Alzheimer’s affects around six in 10 people with dementia.
Memory problems, thinking and reasoning difficulties and language problems are common early symptoms of the condition, which then worsen over time.
Alzheimer’s Research UK analysis found 74,261 people died from dementia in 2022 compared with 69,178 a year earlier, making it the country’s biggest killer.
