CAMBRIDGE, England, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- People with dementia survive an average of 4 1/2 years after diagnosis but age, sex and disability affect life expectancy, a British.study found.
The study involved more than 13,000 individuals aged 65 years and above who were taking part in a population based study in England and Wales. Participants were assessed for dementia at regular intervals over a 14-year period -- 1991 to 2005 -- and 438 individuals developed dementia over the study period, of which 356, or 81 percent died.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found the average survival time from dementia onset to death was 4.1 years for men and 4.6 years for women.
However, the University of Cambridge study also found there was nearly seven years difference in survival between the youngest and the oldest people with dementia -- 10.7 years for those ages 65 to 69 and 3.8 years for those ages 90 or over.
There was around a three-year reduction in survival between the most and least disabled but living in the community or residential home, marital status and self-reported health weren't associated with survival.
