What is the life expectancy of someone with vascular dementia?
Answers
Life expectancy differs depending on your age and other medical issues. People with vascular dementia survive for five years on average once symptoms appear, which is less than the average for Alzheimer’s disease. Heart attacks and strokes cause death for people with vascular dementia most of the time. However, many people die from dementia rather than as a result of it.
Sadly, the average lifespan for those with vascular dementia is five years after symptoms begin, less than Alzheimer’s. The reason is that vascular dementia shares many of the same risk factors as cardiovascular disease; in many cases, a stroke or heart attack will cause death.
Vascular dementia has many risk factors in common with diseases like heart attacks or strokes. That’s why the life expectancy is usually less compared to someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Generally, a patient diagnosed with vascular dementia will have about five years left after the symptoms begin to show. But of course, cases will differ depending on how long each stage will take for every individual.
While treatment can help, vascular dementia significantly shortens one’s lifespan. Although this phenomenon is highly variable, many people with this condition live for many years or die from other causes.
However, people with vascular dementia live for about five years after symptoms begin, less than the average for Alzheimer’s. As vascular dementia shares many of the same risk factors, like heart attack and stroke, the person’s death is likely to be caused by a stroke or heart attack in many cases.