Spouse have dementia? Your risk increases

Married adults who have a spouse with dementia are much more likely themselves to develop dementia, says a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Why? Researchers theorize it could be because of the stress of being a caregiver or something about the shared environment of the couple.

Caregivers of people with dementia provide more assistance and report more personal sacrifices and stress than those who care for the physically-impaired elderly without dementia. Research has shown how that puts caregivers at risk for health problems and depression--but until now hadn't looked specifically at the risk for the caregiver developing dementia.

The study involved monitoring 1,221 married couples, who were intially symptom-free, for up to 12 years for onset of dementia in husbands, wives or both. The majority of individuals whose spouse developed dementia did not develop dementia themselves. However, a spouse's development of dementia meant the caregiving spouse had a six times increased risk of developing the same disease.

Researchers are not sure what factors make someone more vulnerable.

"Given the significant public health concern of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and the upcoming shift in population age composition, continued research into the causes of dementia is urgent," one of the researchers, Maria Norton of Utah State University, told HealthDay.

The Salt Lake Tribune story.

The Time Magazine story.