Scientists have linked declining incomes to early dementia 15 years before diagnosis

In people with early-onset dementia, decreased income and loss of work productivity can occur many years before diagnosis. This conclusion was reached by scientists who studied the data of patients under 65 years of age. This was reported on July 8 in the journal Neurology.

Early dementia is considered a disease that develops before the age of 65, meaning it often affects people of working age. Because of this, the disease affects not only the health of the patient and his family, but also employment, income, and economic activity. The authors noted that previous data on the long-term financial consequences of various types of early dementia remained limited.

The study included 793 patients with early dementia from the University Hospitals of Kuopio and Oulu in Finland. Their data was compared with information on 7,926 people without neurodegenerative diseases, selected by age, gender and region of residence. The diagnoses of the patients were re-checked based on clinical data, and the scientists obtained income information from Finnish tax statistics.

The analysis showed that income differences between patients with early dementia and the control group were noticeable as early as 15 years before diagnosis. During this period, the average annual loss of labor productivity was €2,774 per patient. Approximately seven years before the diagnosis, the rate began to grow faster, and in the year of detection of the disease it reached €12,021 per person. The cumulative losses over 15 years amounted to about €74,577 per patient.

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The results varied depending on the type of disease. In early-onset Alzheimer's disease, significant losses occurred six years before diagnosis and reached €11,431 per year at the time of diagnosis.

In frontotemporal dementia, a decrease in income was recorded even earlier - 11 years before the diagnosis, and in the year of the disease's detection, losses amounted to €16,116. In alpha-synucleinopathies, significant differences became noticeable only by the time of diagnosis.

In the group of other forms of early dementia, which included mainly vascular and mixed forms, losses remained high throughout the entire follow-up period.

The authors of the study believe that such data indicate the need for earlier detection of dementia and patient support in the workplace. In their opinion, timely diagnosis, therapeutic strategies and social assistance measures can reduce the economic burden on both families and society.

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On March 9, Medical Xpress reported on brain training methods and reducing the risk of dementia. The researchers named such diverse activities and habits as reading and writing, learning foreign languages, playing chess, solving puzzles, and visiting museums as a kind of cognitive training that will help preserve mental abilities as you grow older.