Increased Mortality Seen Among Patients With Early-Onset Dementia

THURSDAY, Nov. 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Early-onset dementia (EOD) is associated with increased mortality, which varies with EOD subtype, according to a study published online Nov. 4 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Kasper Katisko, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study involving all incident EOD cases from two defined regions in Finland. The survival and all-cause mortality rates in EOD were examined from January 2010 to December 2021. A total of 794 validated EOD cases of Alzheimer disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), alpha-synucleinopathy, and other EOD spectra were identified and matched with 7,930 controls without neurodegenerative diseases.

The researchers found that mortality was significantly higher in the total EOD group compared with controls (hazard ratio, 6.56). FTD spectrum patients had the highest all-cause mortality risk among the dementia subtypes compared with controls (hazard ratio, 13.75). Increased mortality was seen in association with male sex, older age, several comorbidities, and lower level of education, but these were not specific to EOD.

“Our study provides up-to-date survival rates in EOD, and highlights the substantial effect caused by EOD diagnosis to patients” mortality,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text