Mortality in Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the relevance of variables suspected to influence mortality in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: 172 subjects with AD recruited through a family study were followed up for a mean of 4.7 ± 2.6 years. Their survival was compared with that of matched control subjects using Kaplan-Meier and log-rank statistics. Variables determining mortality were examined with the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: Survival in subjects with AD depended on age, the severity of cognitive decline and on the incidence of hospitalisation. Gender, the duration of the illness, the velocity of cognitive decline, the allele E4 of the apolipoprotein E genotype and the presence of other lifetime psychiatric diagnoses did not influence mortality. Conclusion: Mortality in AD depended mainly on the subjects’ age and the severity of the disorder.

Risk Factors That Affect Life Expectancy in Alzheimer's Disease: A 15-Year Follow-Up

“…Several genetic, demographic, and disease-related factors have been reported to increase the risk of mortality in AD, such as male gender [10,12,13], older age at baseline [6,7,10,13,14], a higher level of education [15], the presence of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele [16], younger age at onset [12], lower cognitive status [13,14,17], and comorbid medical disorders [13]. …”

“…However, other studies showed that the above-mentioned variables had no effect on life span: gender [6,7,14,17], age at baseline [17], level of education [6,7,10,13], APOE genotype [7,14], age at onset [14], cognitive severity [10], and comorbidity [10]. …”

Mild cognitive impairment, degenerative and vascular dementia as predictors of intra-hospital, short- and long-term mortality in the oldest old

“…Previous studies of populationbased cohort type have evaluated survival in relation to dementia, most reporting that the risk of death is higher in the presence of dementia than in its absence (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). A recent Danish population-based cohort study (14 years of follow-up) involving 3065 non-demented (73.7±6.8 years) and 234 demented (83.3±7.0 years) subjects at baseline, showed that the hazard ratio (HR) of death increased from 1.82 for very mildly demented to 9.52 for severely demented subjects (7).…”

High Levels of Comorbidity and Disability Cancel Out the Dementia Effect in Predictions of Long-Term Mortality after Discharge in the Very Old

“…Many studies, mostly of the population-based cohort type, have evaluated survival in relation to dementia, with most reporting that the risk of death is higher in the presence of dementia than in its absence [5,6,7,8,9,10]. A recent Danish population-based cohort study (14 years of follow-up) involving 3,065 nondemented (73.7 ± 6.8 years) and 234 demented subjects (83.3 ± 7.0 years) at baseline showed that the hazard ratio (HR) of death increased from 1.82 for the very mildly demented to 9.52 for severely demented subjects [11].…”