A study found that people with mental disorders such as schizophrenia were 2.5 times more likely to eventually develop dementia than those without mental disorders. Psychological Medicine It was published on the 6th of the journal.
Jean Stafford’s team at University College London (UCL) in the UK meta-analyzed data from 11 studies from nine countries on four continents, involving about 13 million people.
Across a number of different mental disorders, the researchers found a higher risk of dementia later in life, regardless of the age of onset of the first mental illness.
Some studies included young adults diagnosed with a mental illness, during decades of follow-up.
Additionally, the researchers found that people with mental illness tended to be younger than average at the diagnosis of dementia.
Two studies found that people with mental illness were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with dementia when they were still in their 60s.
“A diagnosis of mental illness is associated with a much higher risk of developing dementia later,” the researchers said. “These findings add to the evidence that protecting people’s mental health throughout life can help prevent dementia.”
The researchers said they could not determine whether the cause was due to the mental illness itself or whether it was because mental illness increases the likelihood of a disease that increases the risk of dementia.
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