What is Psychology?

Answers to Your Psychology Questions

  • Disorders & Syndromes
  • Mental Health
  • Definitions
  • Love & Relationship
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Child Psychology

How Does Alzheimer’s Cause Death?

Alzheimer’s is considered to be the sixth biggest killer, and although it is rarely the direct cause of death, the disease is the underlying cause of death in a large number of people aged 65 and above. But how does Alzheimer’s cause death and is it always fatal?

As a BetterHelp affiliate, we may receive compensation if you purchase products or services through the links provided. This is done at no additional cost to you, and supports our work.

Find the right therapist for you

With over 25,000 licensed therapists, BetterHelp has one that fits your needs.
Therapists on BetterHelp are licensed, trained, experienced, and accredited psychologists (PhD / PsyD), licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT), licensed clinical social workers (LCSW / LMSW), or licensed professional therapists (LPC).

Alzheimer’s disease causes death in a number of different ways. These days, with the help of modern medications, many patients are able to enjoy a much greater quality of life and live for far longer than they might have done a hundred years ago and some patients can live for many years once Alzheimer’s disease has been diagnosed. However, there is no known cure for Alzheimer’s disease and death is usually as a result of complications of the disease.

Accident Prone

In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, patients become confused and more likely to put themselves in dangerous situations. They might wander off at night or end up in the garden in the middle of winter, both of which are scenarios that can lead to injury or fatal illnesses. Other accidents such as serious burns can also cause life threatening injuries. Alzheimer’s patients are also more susceptible to falls and accidents as their motor skills deteriorate, and older patients often end up falling and fracturing bones as a result of the disease affecting their mobility, some of which can cause further complications and, ultimately, death.

Infection

One of the most common causes of death in patient’s suffering from Alzheimer’s is infection that subsequently leads to serious illness. Alzheimer’s patients are weaker than a healthy person and therefore more susceptible to everyday infections, and because in the later stages of the illness they are often bedridden and unable to take care of themselves, it is fairly common for simple infections of the urinary tract or respiratory infections to set in and develop into life threatening illnesses.

Infections can also occur as a result of bed sores from days spent lying down in one position. For example, a staphylococcus bacterial infection can easily develop from a bed sore and once the infection takes hold in a patient with Alzheimer’s disease, it can be fatal.

How does Alzheimer’s cause death: Final Stages

Being bedridden is also more likely to lead to complications such as pneumonia. Patients with Alzheimer’s often have trouble swallowing in the final stages of the disease. This can cause food particles to be aspirated, which leads to infection and pneumonia, and because the patient is such a weakened state, they invariably succumb to the illness very quickly.

One of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease is the slow death of brain cells. Unfortunately the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are very similar to those of a stroke, which is why many Alzheimer’s patients suffer from undiagnosed strokes. The same can also apply to the symptoms of brain injuries resulting from falls and knocks to the head, and in such instances, the patient can go on to suffer further strokes and complications as a result of a lack of appropriate treatment.

Related Articles:

  1. Is Dementia a Mental Illness? Is dementia a mental illness? When you think about the symptoms of dementia, it would be very easy to classify dementia as a mental illness, but unlike conditions such as schizophrenia and bi-polar, dementia is not an actual disease as such—rather it is a term that refers to a series...
  2. Is Alzheimer’s Disease Hereditary? If a parent or other close relative has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, you are probably wondering is Alzheimer’s disease hereditary, which is a good question since some forms of dementia, for example Huntington’s, most definitely are. What causes Alzheimer’s and is Alzheimer’s disease hereditary? Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disease...
  3. What is the Dementia Timeline for Deterioration? There are many different types of dementia, but Alzheimer’s is the most common: the disease accounts for between 50% and 80% of all diagnosed cases of dementia. Alzheimer’s tends to be associated with old people and the vast majority of patients who develop the disease are aged 65 and over,...
  4. What is the Difference Between Dementia and Alzheimers? What is the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s? For those who know nothing about either condition, this is a common question and it is not unusual for either term to be used when describing an elderly person suffering from mental confusion, but there is in fact a difference between dementia...
  5. Frontal Lobe Dementia Life Expectancy Once a patient has been diagnosed with Pick's disease, it causes an irreversible decline in a patient's mental faculties over a number of years. The frontal lobe dementia life expectancy can be as long as seventeen years, but some patients only live two years as they soon succumb to complications...

Filed Under: Disorders & Syndromes

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Topics

  • Disorders & Syndromes
  • Drugs & Addiction
  • Mental Health
    • Fear & Anxiety
  • Neuroscience
    • Attention & Concentration
    • Memory
    • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
    • Animals
    • Behavior
    • Child Psychology
    • Definitions
    • Education
    • Experimental Psychology
    • Famous Psychologists
    • Gender Difference
    • Language & Communication
    • Love & Relationship
    • Nutrition
    • Popular Psychology
  • Therapy

Recent Posts

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Why Do People Cut Themselves?

Can You Learn While You Sleep?

Is Herpes Linked to Dementia?

Stay updated on Facebook Follow WhatisPsychology on Twitter

Affiliate Links – Advertising Disclosure

If you purchase a product or service linked from this site, we may receive an "affiliate commission". We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" and also in accordance to amazon associates programme operating agreement.

Amazon
The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Copyright © · What is Psychology? · Privacy Policy · About · Archives · Contact us