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The Effect of Dementia on Mortality in the Elderly Institutionalized Population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Arthur S. Kraus  and
Catherine P. McGeer
Arthur S. Kraus
Affiliation:
Queen's University
Catherine P. McGeer
Affiliation:
Queen's University
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Abstract

Dementia has long been known to shorten life in the elderly, although some studies have suggested a weakening of this relationship in recent decades. This Ontario study involves the comparison of residents with dementia versus a matched group without dementia who were living in long-term-care institutions at the start of the follow-up period.

The 2-year death rate in the 257 cases in the matched dementia group was 40.1%, significantly higher than the 30.7% rate in the matched controls. This excess was observed in all four types of institutions, and in seven of the eight sex-age groups. Individuals with dementia who were reported to cause disturbance by noisy behaviour had a significantly higher death rate than others.

Comparison of our findings with earlier work suggests that the trend of mortality in elderly institutional residents with dementia has continued downward.

Résumé

On sait depuis longtemps que la démence raccourcit la vie chez les vieux, bien qu'un certain nombre d'études ont suggéré que cette corrélation est devenue plus faible au cours des dernières décennies. Cette étude ontarienne présente une comparison de deux groupes de résidents permanents de foyers pour les personnes âgées au début de la période d'étude postérieure. Ceux du premier groupe souffraient de démence, ceux du deuxième groupe apparié n'en souffraient pas.

Les taux de la mortalité parmi les 257 cas du groupe apparié avec démence s'est établi à 40.1% sur deux ans, nettement plus important que le taux de 30.7% du groupe témoin apparié. On a remarqué cette différence dans toutes les quatre catégories d'institutions et parmi sept sur huit des groupements par sexe et par âge. Nous avons noté un taux de la mortalité nettement plus élevé chez des individus qui souffraient de démence et qui avaient manifesté un comportement bruyant et donc perturbateur.

Une comparison de nos conclusions avec des études précédentes suggère que le taux de la mortalité chez des résidents qui souffrent de démence continue à baisser.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 1 , Issue 3-4 , December 1982 , pp. 40 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1982

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