In Monday’s publication Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association Published research shows that the same combination of genes and environment that shortens the lifespan of a person with dementia can also shorten the lifespan of other siblings who do not suffer from dementia.
“We expected a different outcome. “We expected that twins with one developing dementia and the other without dementia would have the same difference in lifespan that we see in unrelated twins,” the lead author said Jung Yun Jang, who conducted the study as part of his doctoral studies in the Department of Psychology at Dornsife College of USC.
“We hypothesized that the life expectancy of a person with dementia would be shortened because dementia causes other diseases that affect mortality,” Jang said. “Instead, we see that the increased risk of death is not just due to dementia itself, but also to a whole host of other effects,” she added.
This study involved 90 pairs of identical twins and 288 pairs of fraternal twins, one with dementia and one without.
Jang confirmed that the onset of dementia affects a person’s lifespan, and that people live on average about seven years after being diagnosed with dementia, a fact that has been confirmed in other studies.
“What happens in the first years of life is really important,” said psychology professor Margaret Gatz. “Make sure your child eats healthy, make sure he gets active, make sure he gets an education. You are actually helping to ensure that the child is less likely to develop dementia 75 years later.”
According to Jang, this study will help people make financial and other decisions late in life by knowing their life expectancy.
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2023-12-12 15:25:04
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