How Does Someone Die From Dementia?

Dementia is most often thought of in terms of the loss of certain cognitive faculties during the disease’s progress. So how does death occur?

A quiet departure

Notwithstanding it being a widely-feared disease (or set of diseases, since we’re using the umbrella term of dementia, and not the most well-known and common kind, Alzheimer’s), death from dementia is usually a peaceful one; any distressing confusions are usually in the past by this point.

Sometimes, it is not the dementia itself that directly causes death; rather, it leaves someone much more vulnerable to infections, with pneumonia being top of the list, and UTIs also ranking highly. And while a younger healthier person might drink some cranberry juice and shrug it off, for an older person with dementia, even a UTI can be much more serious. Pneumonia, of course, is well-known for often being the final straw.

Sometimes, it is the dementia that directly causes death; the disease causes a slow decline until the person stops eating and drinking. At this time, they will also tend to sleep more, and as mentioned, experience much less agitation and confusion than previously.

In terms of caregiving at this late stage, the hospice worker in the video recommends to do one’s best to keep the person clean and safe from falls or infections, check common pressure sore sites for redness, changing their position if necessary and using pillows to relieve any undue pressure.

For more on all of this, see:

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Take care!