Alzheimer's diagnosis cuts life expectancy in half

WASHINGTON - An Alzheimer's diagnosis cuts a person's remaining life expectancy in half, says a report that gives a new estimate of how long patients have to live with the disease.

The study of 521 people with newly diagnosed Alzheimer's found that the median survival period was 4.2 years for men and 5.7 years for women, about half the time a person of the same age without the disease would be expected to live.

Alzheimer's is always fatal and there is no cure, although drugs can reduce the symptoms in some patients for a while. It is the most common cause of dementia and affects 4.5 million Americans.

But there has been no firm estimate of just how long an Alzheimer's patient has to live.

Dr Eric Larson and colleagues at the University of Washington followed 521 men and women over 60 who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Those diagnosed in their 70s lived longer than those diagnosed at age 85 or older, said Dr Larson, director of the Centre for Health Studies at the Group Health Co-operative in Seattle and a former medical director of the University of Washington Medical Centre.

"This finding moves us towards a more precise vision of the course that Alzheimer's may take in people with certain clinical characteristics," he said.

"For doctors, this provides very useful data for gauging the prognosis of an [Alzheimer's] patient. For patients and their caregivers, as difficult as this may be to hear, it can help in making appropriate plans."

The study, funded by the National Institute on Ageing, is published in this week's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

- REUTERS