Mortality rates and proximal causes of death in patients with Lewy body dementia versus Alzheimer’s disease: A longitudinal study using secondary care mental health records
Publication: International Journal Geriatric Psychiatry
Anne D. Kershenbaum, Annabel C. Price, Rudolf N. Cardinal, Shanquan Chen, James M. Fitzgerald, Jonathan Lewis, Sinéad Moylett, John T. O’Brien
19 May 2023
Summary
Survival is shorter in Lewy body dementia (LBD, referring to both Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)) compared with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the reasons for this difference are not well established.
Researchers identified cohorts of patients with dementia (male and female AD, PDD, and DLB dementia groups) referred into mental health services and linked to National Health Service (NHS) Hospital Episode Statistics and the Office for National Statistics to identify death dates and proximal cause of death. Among patients with DLB and PDD compared to AD ,those with PDD, especially males with PDD, had the highest hazard ratio for death. Aspiration pneumonia and nervous system causes of death accounted for a significant proportion of the excess deaths in the male PDD group compared to the male AD group. Compared with AD, hazard ratios for nervous system causes of death were significantly elevated in all LBD groups. A range of cause‐of‐death categories were significantly more frequent across the LBD groups, with aspiration pneumonia,genitourinary causes and other respiratory causes elevated in more than one group
