A dementia diagnosis for a loved one is something that causes great anxiety in families, and those feelings are often compounded by decisions surrounding nursing home care. A new study addresses life expectancy after a dementia diagnosis and establishes estimates on when those who are diagnosed are usually admitted to a nursing home.
The study, recently published in the medical journal The BMJ, acts as a systematic review of previous studies on survival from dementia diagnosis and nursing home admission.
Dementia, a neurological condition that affects one’s memory and personality among other functions, is a major concern for aging populations. The impact of diseases related to dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, will only continue to escalate in the coming decade; More than 55 million people live with dementia globally, and this number is estimated to rise to 153 million by 2050 according to data from 2021.
Understanding Dementia Prognosis
The research team, based out of the Netherlands, aimed to gain a better understanding of dementia prognosis, or the likely course of the condition over time.
To accomplish their goal, the researchers examined 261 studies published between 1984 and 2024 (235 on survival and 79 on nursing home admission) that involved more than 5 million people with dementia (with an average age of 79, and 63 percent women). They focused on the life expectancy of both men and women diagnosed with dementia.
For women, they concluded that the average life expectancy ranges from 9 years at age 60 to 4.5 years at age 85. Meanwhile, for men, it is 6.5 years at age 60 to just over 2 years at age 85.
They found that dementia reduced life expectancy by about 2 years based on a diagnosis at age 85, 3 to 4 years with a diagnosis at age 80, and up to 13 years with a diagnosis at age 65.
Additionally, the researchers observed certain trends in the review, such as average survival being up to 1.4 years longer among Asian populations and also among people with Alzhemier’s disease compared with other types of dementia.
Read More: Why Aggression Is a Common Symptom For Those With Dementia or Alzheimer’s
Time of Nursing Home Admission
The researchers also assessed the average time of nursing home admission after diagnosis, at just over 3 years. They determined that 13 percent of people were admitted in the first year after diagnosis. This number increased to 35 percent at three years after diagnosis and 57 percent at five years after diagnosis. The team, however, noted that these estimates should be considered with caution as they do not reflect all dementia cases.
The researchers recognized that factors such as differences in study methods and inconsistent reporting of socioeconomic status, race, and pre-existing conditions may have impacted the estimates they observed. They say these circumstances should be reported in future studies to ensure dementia prognosis is fully understood across the board.
“Future studies on individualized prognosis should ideally include patients at time of diagnosis, accounting or personal factors, social factors, disease stage, and comorbidity, while assessing relevant functional outcome measures above and beyond survival alone,” the authors said.
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Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.
