Abstract
Five-year follow-up of a community-based, 77+ old cohort including incident dementia
cases was used to evaluate the impact of dementia on the risk of death, taking into
account other chronic conditions potentially related to death, and contrasting Alzheimer's
disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD). In this population, 70% of the dementia
cases died during the five years after diagnosis, with a mortality rate specific for
dementia of 2.4 per 100 person-years. After controlling for sociodemographic variables
and comorbidity, 14% of all deaths could be attributed to dementia with a risk of
death among demented subjects twice as high as that for non-demented people. Mortality
risk ratios were 2.0 (95% confidence interval 1.5–2.7) for AD and 3.3 (95% confidence
interval 2.0–5.3) for VaD. This study confirms that dementing disorders are a major
risk factor for death. Even in the oldest old (85+), dementia shortens life, especially
among women.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 30,
1999
Identification
Copyright
© 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
