My 80 yr old Mother has had Alzheimer's since age 69. How much longer can this last? She lived with my father until his death nearly four years ago. Since then, she has lived with me, my husband and two daughters.
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Expert Answer by Paula Spencer
The general rule of thumb is that someone with Alzheimer's has half the life expectancy of a peer without this disease. So the average 70- year- old woman can expect to live 16 years, but a 70-year-old with Alzheimer's has an 8-year life expectancy. Of course, there's no crystal ball of certainty, which helps explain why your mother has already outlived that statistic. Life expectancy also depends on the age at diagnosis (the later in life you're diagnosed, the less time you're expected to live) and on general health condition. You can find more information here.
So much depends on the person's overall health and age. My husband at the age of 77 is now at the mid moderate stage of Alzheimer's after having been offically diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2005 and has had symptoms of dementia since a stroke in 1981. He's now in a dementia care unit and getting excellent care.
My husband who will be 80 in May was diagnosed with dementia(loss of short term memory)almost 4 years ago. He is taking aricept & namenda. He has a bad aortic & mitral heart valves. He has 2 brothers & 2 sisters all younger with varying degrees of dementia. His mother who also had dementia lived until she was 83. Her 2 sisters whom had dementia lived into their mid 90's. Since I feel this is really a genetic dementia, my husband could live well into his 80's. His physicians feel in his present health stage, he could live well into his 90's. As long as my husband is physically able to live at home, I know how trying it can be, but no one ever promised me a "rose" garden.
