© 2000 Evidence-Based Mental Health
Dementia in advanced age led to higher mortality rates and shortened life
Agüero-Torres H, Fratiglioni L, Guo Z, et al. Mortality from dementia in advanced age: a 5-year follow-up study of incident dementia cases. J Clin Epidemiol 1999 Aug;52:737–43.[Medline]
QUESTION: What is the mortality rate and survival time for patients with dementia in advanced age, and does this rate vary by sex and age?
Inception cohort followed up for 5 years.
Community based study in Stockholm, Sweden.
127 patients (65% 
85 y of age, 87% women) with clinically definite dementia using DSM-III-R criteria; 80% had Alzheimer's disease (AD), 17% had vascular dementia, and 3% were classified as having other dementias. A comparison group of 790 non-demented people (61% between 77 and 84 y of age, 75% women) were also followed.
At baseline, data on family and personal history were collected and psychological tests were administered. A diagnosis of dementia was made using DSM-III-R criteria.
Mortality rate and survival time.
After 5 years, 70% of patients with dementia had died compared with 35% of those without dementia. After controlling for sociodemographic variables and comorbidity, 14% of all deaths could be attributed to dementia with a risk of death among patients with dementia twice as high as that for non-demented people. The mean survival time was
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand,
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
