Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Stages Of Dementia - Understanding The Condition And Life Expectancy

By Jack Morgan


Dementia life expectancy is the measure of the time duration or how long an average individual will survive or expected to live after he or she has developed dementia. It has been found out that an average individual who has been diagnosed with dementia as a result of Alzheimer disease will live approximately for 4.5 years beyond the diagnosis.

The symptoms are classified in stages in order to serve as a guide on dementia life expectancy and how an individual reach to specific stages and symptoms. These stages can overlap and fluctuate especially with the existence of other physical condition.

The average dementia life expectancy for patients with Alzheimer disease is also affected by several factors. A healthy person who has been diagnosed with dementia prior reaching the age of 70 is expected to live for 10 more years. But a person after reaching 90 years is diagnosed with dementia will only live for 4 more years.

Women lived for about 4.6 years after being diagnosed of dementia. On the other hand, men lived for only 4.1 years. Furthermore, people under 70 years of age lived for 10.7 years on average compared to those who were over 90 years of age and lived only for 3.8 years before they died. And patients who were frail at the time of diagnosis didn't live any longer than 3 years. The study concluded that the average life expectancy of a person who was diagnosed with AD or dementia was 4.5 years.

During the final stage of dementia, the life expectancy of the individual will start diminishing rapidly as he or she will lose his or her ability to respond to the environment. The early onset of dementia may also be due to other syndromes and diseases as it determines the dementia life expectancy in an individual.

At this phase, an individual with dementia is more relaxed and willing to let go and give in. They may begin to look like pre-occupied with the happy times or the past regaining these memories and living in that point and reality. Also, communication may be a bit hard since they may have difficulty in constructing sentences.

Individual who develops dementia brought by multiple sclerosis is expected to live about seven years lesser than people who don't have dementia. The life span of individual with Huntington disease related dementia is expected to live for 15 years. Individual with HIV and developed dementia has a life expectancy of 25 years but with the condition that he or she does not succumb to the other effects of this virus.

In the fourth stage, the person suffering from dementia may totally shut out to another world. They may be seen lying in bed or sitting in char and appear light staring in the aur or eyes closed. They may not speak or respond with others. However, the sense of touch is still intact. Also, hearing is still in good shape so, it is vital that you continue having physical contact or talk to them.

The other factors that increases the chances of having dementia includes high blood pressure, multiple strokes and other risks factors as it can shorten the life expectancy of an individual. Thus the dementia life expectancy in a person depends on the causes of the disease and the area of the brain it has affected.




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