Cognitive decline would be the factor having the greatest impact on the life expectancy of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
More than 20% of people over 80 are affected by Alzheimer’s disease. If it alters the quality of life and generates disabling symptoms, it also has direct consequences on life expectancy. According to the association France Alzheimer, it varies from eight to twelve years from the moment the diagnosis is made. Researchers from UT Southwestern, a University of Texas, wanted to understand what factors influence the life expectancy of sufferers. In the specialist journal Journal of Alzheimer’s Diseasethey reveal the results of their study.
Seven factors affect life expectancy
The data was drawn from clinical records and autopsy reports of patients who died of Alzheimer’s disease between 2005 and 2015. Alzheimer’s disease was confirmed through brain autopsies: they identified it by the traditional abnormalities seen in affected individuals, including the presence of abnormal protein aggregation. Life expectancy in the study group ranged from one to 131 months after diagnosis. Using a data set of 764 Alzheimer’s cases, Munro Cullum, professor of psychiatry, neurology and neurological surgery, and Jeffrey Schaffert, post-doctoral fellow in clinical neuropsychology, identified seven factors, allowing to predict differences in life expectancy. They provide an estimate of the number of years of life remaining after diagnosis.
Cognitive impairments have the greatest impact
According to their findings, poor performance on an orientation-focused cognitive screening test was the most significant factor, accounting for about 20% of the variations in life expectancy. Next, the scientists noted that gender, age, race/ethnicity, neuropsychiatric symptoms, abnormal neurological test results, and levels functional impairment are explanatory elements. “We found that beyond overall cognitive function, patients who were older, non-Hispanic, male, and had more motor and psychiatric symptoms had significantly shorter life expectancies.“, says Jeffrey Dr. Schaffert.
Information for families
“The life expectancy of patients with Alzheimer’s disease generally ranges from three to twelve years, but can be longer in some cases, emphasizes Dr. Munro Cullum. Families are anxious and need to know what to expect and how to best plan for the future in terms of finances and care.” But according to him, these results could also help health care providers. Further research is planned with larger population samples, to confirm and clarify these results.
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