Alzheimer’s Disease—Survival
Monday, June 21, 2004

Alzheimer’s disease is a common diagnosis in elderly patients.  It can be emotionally and physically difficult for loved ones caring for an Alzheimer’s patient.  Dr. Ken Davis discusses new information about survival times with people suffering from this devastating disease.

Alzheimer’s Disease causes a progressive loss of mental function and eventually leads to death.  Families often ask the physician to estimate how long a loved one will survive with this progressive condition. 

A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine may help answer this question.  Five hundred and twenty one patients were followed from their initial diagnosis.  On average, men lived 4.2 years and women 5.7 years after diagnosis.  This is less than one half of the life expectancy of people without Alzheimer’s disease.

Certain factors present at initial diagnosis were associated with shorter survival times.  These include:  Older age, wandering behavior, unsteady walking with falls, and urinary incontinence.  The severity of the disease at the time of initial diagnosis was the strongest predictor of survival.

There are no cures for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.  New treatments may slow the course and improve the rate of memory loss.  It is important for families of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease to understand that this disease shortens their life expectancy to less than half that of people without this diagnosis.

For North Mississippi Medical Center, I’m Dr. Ken Davis.